Bus Services: Disability

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of new buses in the UK outside London are fitted with audio visual announcements.

Stephen Hammond: According to figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on 7 January 2014, 2,842 new buses were registered in the UK in 2013, along with 843 coaches.
	Although we do not hold specific data from each bus operator on the number or percentage of new buses using audio/visual systems outside London, we are currently examining whether this information can be gathered as part of the Department's next annual bus operator survey, due to be published in the autumn.
	Research commissioned by the Department for Transport estimates that in 2012 there were 8,877 buses operating in England that offered audio announcements on the destination of the bus and the next stop, compared to 8,812 buses in 2011. This amounts to approximately 25% of all buses in England.

East Coast Railway Line

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential effects of High Speed 2 on the frequency of trains on the East Coast Main Line from London to Newcastle.

Stephen Hammond: This assessment will be made as different service options for the post-HS2 railway are developed. A wide range of potential service options are open, ranging from relatively evolutionary change to widespread service redesign. These issues were outlined in the Network Rail report ‘Better Connections’, published in July 2013, and available on their website:
	http://www.networkrail.co.uk/improvements/high-speed-rail/
	The Department is working with Network Rail to design the next stage of the service planning work for rail services once HS2 phase 1 opens, and looking ahead to phase 2. The Department will make further announcements shortly.

First Great Western

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much of the joint investment between his Department and First Great Western to fund additional standard class capacity and a refresh of first class is provided by his Department.

Stephen Hammond: At this stage, the amounts involved are commercially confidential, as private sector contractors are involved in undertaking the work on behalf of First Great Western. However, the basis on which the allocations have been made is equitable and reflects among other things the need for the public sector contribution to achieve value for money and to secure the Rail Investment Strategy imperative of improved standard class capacity on the Great Western route. The information about the amount borne by the Department to fund the standard class reseating in this joint investment will be provided once the works are completed.

First TransPennine Express

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy that the new Transpennine Express franchise due to begin in 2015 maintains hourly direct services between Hull and Manchester.

Stephen Hammond: The new directly awarded franchise for TransPennine that begins in April 2015 will aim to provide train services at the same level as is currently available to passengers today until the start of the new completed franchise, expected in February 2016.

Goring and Streatley Station

John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when lifts will be installed at Goring and Streatley station; and whether this will coincide with the replacement of the footbridge.

Stephen Hammond: Network Rail has submitted Goring and Streatley as a candidate station for Access for All Funding. The Government plans to make an announcement on funding in April. In the meantime, Network Rail has advised me that the new footbridge which will be installed in the summer will be suitable for the installation of lifts.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what evaluation his Department has made of the costs and benefits of linking the proposed phase two of High Speed 2 to the West Coast Main Line at Crewe instead of at Golborne junction.

Robert Goodwill: The Strategic Case for HS2 published on 29 October 2013 sets out the business case for proceeding with HS2. It shows that the Y-shaped network including the connections to the west coast main line at both Crewe and Golborne is expected to deliver around £2.30 of benefits (including Wider Economic Impacts) for every £1 spent. The Department has not estimated the case for the Y-shaped route for High Speed 2 without these connections. However, HS2 Ltd examined the possibility of only linking High Speed 2 to the west coast main line at Crewe, and eliminating the junction at Golborne. They identified significant constraints in the west coast main line north of Crewe and additional works would be required here as the line is intensively used by fast long-distance services, slower stopping trains and freight, causing significant timetabling constraints. Taking into account the levels of growth being experienced to date, both in terms of passenger and freight traffic, the west coast main line would not be able to cope with the overall volume of services required. Therefore the section of line between Winterbottom and Bamfurlong culminating in the Golborne connection is likely to offer very high value for money when compared against the alternative connection at Crewe and associated WCML modification work.

Motorways: Repairs and Maintenance

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2014, Official Report, column 456W, on motorways: repairs and maintenance, what the reasons are for the discrepancy between the figures of eight deaths in the preceding three years and 1,747 injuries in the preceding 12 months of people repairing motorways stated by the Highways Agency in a press release dated 21 October 2013.

Robert Goodwill: The figures quoted are based upon different data selection criteria and from different time periods. The answer of 27 February 2014, Official Report, column 456W, (motorways: repairs and maintenance) is the number of people repairing motorways killed or injured by vehicles in 2012 and 2013. The Highways Agency press release of 21 October 2013, referred to the number of road workers killed and injured while improving and maintaining the strategic road network in England, irrespective of the causation or duties being undertaken. The eight road workers killed occurred between 2009 and 2013 and the figure of 1,747 quoted in the same press release included a large volume of near misses, hazards and damage to plant and equipment where no injuries had been sustained.

Railway Stations: Access

John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much funding will be made available to the Access for All scheme in Control Period 5; and what terms and conditions will apply to such funding.

Stephen Hammond: £100 million has been allocated to extend the Access for All programme for control period 5. Stations will be selected based on their annual footfall, weighted by the incidence of disability in the area. The preferences of the train operators and the availability of third party funding or other capital contributions will also be considered.

Railways: Fares

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average change in rail fares was between Chelmsford and London in each of the last five years.

Stephen Hammond: The Office of Rail Regulation publishes information on average changes in rail fares by sector and ticket category on their website:
	http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/displayreport/report/html/7cff3127-a5cc-4173-ac78-016db2339811
	However, I am able to provide information on the change in costs of an annual season ticket from Chelmsford to London terminals over the last five years, as follows:
	
		
			 Annual season ticket from Chelmsford to London terminals 
			  £ Percentage change from previous year 
			 2010 3,120 — 
			 2011 3,260 4.5 
			 2012 3,420 4.9 
			 2013 3,540 3.5 
			 2014 3,640 2.8

Railways: North West

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for how many days the (a) Colne to Blackpool South and (b) Skipton to Leeds lines were closed in each of the last five years.

Stephen Hammond: This is not information that is held by the Department for Transport. This is a matter for Network Rail, who own and operate Britain's rail network.

Railways: Tickets

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much the Government has spent on the South East Flexible Ticketing Scheme in each year since 2010.

Stephen Hammond: The following sums have been spent on the South East Flexible Ticketing Programme to date:
	
		
			  £ 
			 2010 0 
			 2011 0 
			 2012 590,310 
			 2013 5,667,057 
			 20141 2,328,528 
			 1 To date.

Railways: Tickets

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  when the pilot project for part-time rail season tickets will start;
	(2)  on what date the competition inviting train operators to submit a pilot project for flexible ticketing will start; and whether that competition will include services on the Waterloo to Weymouth line.

Stephen Hammond: The competition for the trial on flexible and part-time ticketing is currently scheduled to commence later in 2014. All train operators that are signatories to the South East Flexible Ticketing scheme, including South West Trains, who operate the Waterloo to Weymouth line, will be invited to take part in the competition. We expect to announce a winning bidder in sufficient time to commence the trial in January 2015. The trial is expected to last for a year.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  which local authorities receive what proportion of the £140 million to fix roads damaged by flooding and adverse weather announced on 9 March 2014;
	(2)  pursuant to the financial statement of 19 March 2014, what the breakdown is of the £200 million funding for potholes schemes; and whether that £200 million includes the £140 million to fix roads damaged by flooding and adverse weather announced by the Secretary of State for Transport on 9 March 2014.

Robert Goodwill: The funding allocations from the £140 million announced on 9 March to help repair roads damaged by the severe wet weather were announced on 20 March 2013. This includes a further £33.5 million announced earlier this year as part of the transport element of the Severe Weather Recovery Fund. A table which provides information on the funding we will be paying to local highway authorities by end March 2014 is available at the following weblink:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/294497/extra-funding-to-repair-roads.csv/preview
	The £200 million for a Pothole Fund was announced in the Budget on 19 March 2014 is new money and in addition to the £140 million funding. From the £200 million, £168 million be made available to councils in England through a bidding exercise. Further details on the fund will be made available in the coming weeks.

Air Passenger Duty

Andrew Percy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of multi-ticketing on the revenue accruing to the Exchequer from air passenger duty in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Nicky Morgan: Budget 2014 announced the reform of air passenger duty with the abolition of bands C and D from 1 April 2015. This will eliminate the two highest rates of APD charged on flights to countries over 4,000 miles from Britain, cutting tax for millions for passengers to travelling to China, India, Brazil and many other emerging markets. This will mean that flights to South Asia and the Caribbean will pay tax at the lower band B rate.
	Air passenger duty is calculated on a passenger's final destination. The liability of a journey from the UK will be the same whether the journey is made by using a single, direct flight from the UK, or by using two or more connected flights through foreign hub airports.
	A journey using separate unconnected tickets has practical and financial implications including no protection on the cost of missed connections. Data is not held on the number of UK passenger journeys to foreign hub airports that may be part of a longer journey using unconnected tickets.

Alcoholic Drinks

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what meetings his Department has had with (a) pub companies, (b) the British Beer and Pub Association, (c) members of the British Beer and Pub Association, (d) Independent Family Brewers of Britain and (e) members of Independent Family Brewers of Britain.

Nicky Morgan: Treasury Ministers and officials routinely meet with a wide range of stakeholders as part of the policy development process. Details of ministerial and Permanent Secretary meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

Buildings

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of the office space owned or leased by his Department is not in regular use; what the total (a) rental and (b) retail value is of all such unused office space; and if he will place in the Library a copy of his most recent departmental real estate valuation.

Nicky Morgan: Holdings of real estate are assessed as either being required to deliver departmental functions (forming the Core estate) or surplus to this requirement (non-Core). There is no system for classifying frequency of use. The Government’s top priority for surplus holdings is to reduce property costs by exiting leasehold agreements, selling freeholds or by sub-letting to external tenants. The Government has now created a portal—Find Me Some Government Space at:
	https://www.gov.uk/find-government-property
	for more efficient marketing of surplus land and buildings. This is searchable by developers, community groups and the general public.
	It is considered not to be in the public interest to disclose real estate valuation reports, as this information can be commercially sensitive and any disclosure could adversely affect the Government’s future ability to negotiate efficiencies and achieve value for money to the taxpayer. However, the value of HM Treasury’s land and buildings is available in its annual report and accounts, which is accessible on:
	www.gov.uk

Children: Day Care

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the qualifying criteria for the tax free childcare scheme are.

Nicky Morgan: Information on the eligibility criteria for tax-free child care can be found in the consultation response document:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/293084/PU1607_Tax_free_Childcare _response.pdf

Excise Duties: Fuels

David Davis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the economic effect of (a) a rise in fuel duty, (b) freezing fuel duty, (c) cutting fuel duty by 3 pence or more in 2014-15;
	(2)  what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the (i) economic effects and (ii) effects on the average motorist of (A) a freeze in fuel duty and (B) a reduction in fuel duty by 3 pence or more;
	(3)  if he will make it his policy to commit to a real terms cut in fuel duty in 2014-15;
	(4)  what estimate he has made of the change in employment levels of (a) a freeze in fuel duty and (b) a reduction in fuel duty by 3 pence or more in the final year of this Parliament;
	(5)  when he next plans to meet members of FairFuelUK to discuss (a) a freeze in fuel duty and (b) a reduction in fuel duty by 3 pence or more.

Nicky Morgan: Since 2011, the Government has taken action on fuel duty to support both households and businesses. At autumn statement 2013 the Government cancelled the increase that was planned for September 2014, freezing fuel duty for remainder of Parliament. As a result of this Government's action, the real terms rate of fuel duty is forecast to fall by 8p per litre over the Parliament. A typical motorist will save £680 in total by 2015-16, compared to the previous Government's plans.
	All fuel duty cuts and freezes since Budget 2011 have had to be fully funded, through tax rises or spending cuts elsewhere. The impact of any reductions will need to be considered in the context of the wider public finances.
	The actions this Government has taken on tax, spending and welfare reform have reduced the deficit, protected the economy, restored and maintained stability. The Government regularly meets a range of stakeholders on fuel duty.

Excise Duties: Fuels

Louise Ellman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reason it is his policy to apply varying taxation rates to different road fuel gases.

Nicky Morgan: The Government has maintained the fuel duty differential between the main rate of fuel duty and alternative road fuels until 2024. The Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) differential reduces by 1 penny per litre (ppl) per year, which is a continuation of the approach set out by the previous Administration. This follows their recommendation in the 2003 Alternative Fuels Framework, reflecting the greater natural environmental damage caused by LPG compared to other road fuel gases.
	However, as this Government has frozen fuel duty until the end of Parliament, the LPG differential also remains frozen, and is not currently closing by 1 ppl per year. The Government will review the taxation of all road fuel gases in 2018, along with vehicle take up and the impact of the differential on the public finances.

Fixed Interest Securities: Pensioners

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the current (a) one and (b) three-year yield is on a gilt; and what the (i) one and (ii) three-year yield will be on the proposed fixed rate savings bonds for pensioners

Sajid Javid: At close of business on Thursday 20 March 2014, the one-year gilt yield was 0.40%, and the three-year gilt yield was 1.05%, as reported by Bloomberg. Yields on the National Savings and Investments (NS&I) bonds will be equal to their interest rates, which will be finalised at autumn statement to take account of prevailing market conditions. However, as set out in the Budget red book our central assumption is that the one-year bond would pay 2.8% gross/annual equivalent rate (AER) and the three-year bond 4% gross/AER, subject to tax.

Flood Control

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will review the Green Book in regard to flood defence investment; and if he will make a statement.

Danny Alexander: The Treasury Green Book provides a technical guide to the appraisal of all public spending proposals. The Government does not intend to review it as a result of the recent floods because it makes no provision specific to flood defence investment. However, the Government does keep the Green Book methodology under regular review to ensure it continues to set out best practice for all project appraisal.

New Businesses: Government Assistance

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has made an assessment of the benefits and disbenefits of extending the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme to the charity and social enterprise sector.

David Gauke: The Government is introducing the social investment tax relief from April 2014. It extends the venture capital tax breaks to investment in social enterprises.
	The new scheme is based on the Enterprise Investment Scheme and will apply to significantly larger organisations than qualify for the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), announced at Budget that the rate of income tax relief will be 30%. The relief is the first of its kind in the world.

Non-domestic Rates

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the ministerial statement of 13 February 2014, Official Report, column 66WS, on Business Rates Administration Review, if he will undertake a programme of research into the merits of replacing business rates in England with a land value tax; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The Government’s review of business rates administration after 2017 aims to identify improvements to the business rate system
	“consistent with the principle that business rates are based on rental property values”.
	As the Government has previously set out, it believes that the complexity and cost of administering a land value tax means that such a proposal is not tenable. The Government therefore has no intention of considering a land value tax as part of its review of business rates administration post-2017.

Personal Savings: Females

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to promote greater (a) knowledge of and (b) investment in ISAs and pensions among women.

David Gauke: The Money Advice Service (MAS) was set up by Government to promote understanding of the financial system and raise levels of financial capability across the UK. It offers free and impartial information and advice on money matters to all and provides advice on a range of savings products, including ISAs.
	The latest available statistics show that as of 5 April 2011, of the 24,356 adults with ISAs, 11,861 (48.7%) were female.
	On pensions, 2 million to 3 million are women will be automatically enrolled into a workplace pension where they will benefit from an employer contribution and tax relief.
	The state pension reforms will benefit women who have historically done poorly under the current two-tier system. The Government expects that in the first 10 years after implementation, over 650,000 women will benefit from the single-tier valuation of their pension at 2016, receiving on average £8 a week more in state pension.

Provident Societies

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Industrial and Provident Societies have been registered with the Financial Services Authority or Financial Conduct Authority in each year since 2008.

Sajid Javid: The Government does not hold information on the numbers of Industrial and Provident Societies registered. The data is held by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Revenue and Customs

Michael Crockart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff had been employed on fixed-term contracts by HM Revenue and Customs for two years or more (a) in Edinburgh and (b) the rest of the UK at the most recent date for which figures are available; and how many such staff will be made redundant in each case by 31 March 2014.

David Gauke: There are currently 50 people (40.27 full-time equivalent) employed on fixed term contracts in Edinburgh. All of these staff have been employed for more than two years.
	There are currently 2,222 people (1,850.9 FTE) with two or more years of service employed on fixed term contracts in the rest of the UK.
	HMRC has been in meaningful consultation with departmental trade unions and is still working to minimise any potential redundancies. The Department has offered a number of staff the opportunity to extend their contract. Discussions between HMRC staff and their managers about fixed term contracts coming to an end are continuing, so final numbers of redundancies are not yet available.

Sand: Waste Disposal

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will put a mechanism in place to waive landfill tax for the disposal of sandbags by local authorities;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the financial effect on local authorities of landfill tax payable for the disposal of sandbags since the recent floods.

Nicky Morgan: The Treasury has not undertaken a specific assessment of the landfill tax liability to local authorities from the disposal of sandbags following the recent floods.
	Landfill tax is an environmental tax to discourage waste being sent to landfill and to instead encourage alternative forms of waste treatment such as reuse and recycling. Providing an exemption for the disposal of sandbags by local authorities would require new legislation which would take time to introduce, and add new administrative burdens for both local authorities and landfill site operators.
	However, in response to the recent flooding, the Government has taken action to support local authorities with exceptional costs by expanding the Bellwin scheme which provides financial assistance to local authorities in England incurring expenditure above a qualifying threshold in response to an emergency or disaster to safeguard lives and properties. The Government has also established a Severe Weather Recovery scheme to contribute to costs incurred by local authorities to support their communities and repair highways and infrastructure. This scheme can help with some of the costs associated with disposal. In addition to these schemes, the Government has provided funding for local authorities to provide council tax and business rates relief as well as hardship grants for households and businesses affected by the flooding.

Social Security Benefits

Michael Crockart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to address financial inequalities faced by parents with shared custody of their child where state benefits are paid to only one parent.

Nicky Morgan: Child benefit and tax credits provide financial support for families bringing up children. In the instance where parents are separated claimants may also qualify for the ‘lone parent’ element of tax credits.
	Payments are made to the person primarily responsible for the child. Where parents are separated child benefit and tax credit rules allow for parents to decide between themselves which of them, shall be entitled to receive the payments. Where parents are unable to make a decision HMRC commissioners can make a discretionary decision.

VAT: Repairs and Maintenance

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will reduce VAT on repairs for those affected by flooding.

David Gauke: The Government is taking action to help families and businesses affected by the flooding. On the 20 February the Prime Minister announced a package of new funding schemes to support homeowners and businesses, including a grant of up to £5,000 to provide financial support to pay for repairs which improve a property's ability to withstand future flooding. More information is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-floods-2014-government-response

Daniel Morgan

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2014, Official Report, column 182W, on Daniel Morgan, from which (a) individuals and (b) organisations documents have been received; what protocols with relevant organisations are required; and if she will place in the Library a copy of all (i) minutes and (ii) documents from the meetings of the Independent Panel held to date.

Damian Green: holding answer 20 March 2014
	The panel is seeking documents from those organisations mentioned in its Terms of Reference and other organisations and individuals which the panel considers may have relevant information to offer.
	However, the proceedings of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel will remain confidential until it presents its final report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), who will then make arrangements for the report’s publication to Parliament. The Terms of Reference provide that the panel will brief members of the family through the final report. This will be made available first to the family and then to the public at large. It is not envisaged that the panel will make material public until that point, but it will keep under review what policies and protocols it can make publicly available during the course of its work.

Detention Centres

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are allocated to each room in immigration detention centres.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 20 March 2014
	Rooms in Immigration Removal Centres are generally shared by two or three occupants, although there are also single occupancy and some larger rooms, which can accommodate up to eight detainees. The largest room capacity is a 12-bed first-night unit in Dungavel, Scotland.
	In order to be used as sleeping accommodation, rooms must be certified in accordance with Detention Services Order 4/2003 by the Secretary of State, that the lighting, heating and ventilation are adequate for health. This is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/accommodation-lighting-heating-and-ventilation

Entry Clearances: Africa

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visa centres have been contracted to be delivered by teleperformance in Africa; how many such centres are operational; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: Teleperformance Ltd have been awarded the contract covering the Africa region. This comprises 27 outsourced visa application centres. Of these, four are currently operational, with further visa application centres to become operational over the coming weeks.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the change in the number of non-EU students issued visas to study at UK universities in the last five years.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 17 March 2014
	Since 2010 we have made common sense reforms to our student visa system, cutting out abuse whilst ensuring that we continue to attract talented international students to our world class universities.
	Available figures of applications for visas for study using sponsor acceptances at UK universities during the last four years (2010 to 2013) show that there has been an increase in each year, rising by 7% from 156,629 in 2012 to 167,995 in 2013 and for students sponsored by the Russell Group of universities this rose by 11%. These figures are published as part of the latest quarterly Immigration Statistics October to December 2013 in table cs 09 available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/283682/before-entry1-q4-2013-tabs.ods
	Data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) indicates that first year non-EU students enrolling at UK higher education institutions (HEIs) increased by 36% between 2007-08 and 2012-13. These figures are available from the HESA website at:
	https://www.hesa.ac.uk/

Immigrants

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the Assistance for the Voluntary Return and Reintegration of Returnees project, what the countries of origin of the 1,470 irregular migrants were; what assistance will be provided to the 30 victims of human trafficking from EU countries; how it will provide reintegration assistance to the 75 returning vulnerable migrants; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 6 March 2014
	For many illegal migrants, the UK remains a primary destination country and some of those this programme will assist might otherwise arrive in the UK.
	This project will make a positive and significant contribution to Greece’s comprehensive management of migration by facilitating the safe returns and reintegration of migrants in their countries of origin. The project will also raise awareness of the real dangers associated with illegal migration and of the advantages of returning home voluntarily, with support.
	We will keep the effectiveness of this project under review.

Immigrants

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the nature and purpose is of the Government-funded Assistance for the Voluntary Return and Reintegration of Returnees project being implemented by the International Organisation for Migration in co-operation with the Greek Government; how that project will assist irregular migrants to return to their countries of origin; and how the project will help identified victims of human trafficking from EU countries.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 6 March 2014
	For many illegal migrants the UK remains a primary destination country and some of those this programme will assist might otherwise arrive in the UK.
	This project will make a positive and significant contribution to Greece's comprehensive management of migration by facilitating the safe returns and reintegration of migrants in their countries of origin. The project will also raise awareness of the real dangers associated with illegal migration and of the advantages of returning home voluntarily, with support.
	We will keep the effectiveness of this project under review.

Immigration

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the backlog was for cases supervised by the (a) permanent migration office, Liverpool, (b) temporary migration office, Sheffield and (c) older live cases unit, Liverpool in each year since 2010.

James Brokenshire: In response to parts (a) and (b), we cannot provide an answer as our reporting system does not allow historic reporting on this basis and our archived reports are not presented in such a way.
	In response to (c), older live cases unit (OLCU) was formed in November 2012. OLCU does not have a backlog but is responsible for a defined cohort of older asylum and migration cases. The majority of these cases will have already received a negative decision against their initial application, but remain in the UK. For OLCU, the figures are:
	31 December 2012—40,538 people (asylum and migration)
	31 December 2013—34,841 people (asylum and migration).

Immigration Officers

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what rules govern the conduct of former immigration officials in respect of dealings with those still employed by the Immigration Service.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 20 March 2014
	In common with all civil servants, the conduct of former immigration officials are bound by the Business Appointment Rules for Civil Servants. These are in the public domain and are published at:
	http://acoba.independent.gov.uk/media/25653/business%20 appointment%20rules%20for%20civil%20servants%20feb%202011. pdf
	These rules apply to all serving civil servants and to former civil servants for two years after their last day of paid service.

Children: Day Care

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the distributional effect of raising the proportion of childcare costs covered by universal credit to 85 per cent within the existing budget.

Steve Webb: Work remains the best route out of poverty, and child care costs represent a significant barrier to families trying to take the first steps into work or workup to full-time hours.
	Government and many of our stakeholders have concluded that funding an increase in child care support up to 85% provides a sufficient improvement in the financial reward and work incentive for families under universal credit. It will see around 500,000 working families get more out of the money they earn, helping more families move into employment and thus supporting our goal to end poverty in a sustainable way.
	We will shortly be publishing a response to the consultation on the rate of child care paid under universal credit, which will include more detailed information on the effects of increasing the rate to 85% for all families.
	The distributional effects of universal credit to be published at the next autumn statement, will include any changes to the child care element universal credit.

Disability Living Allowance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of disability living allowance claims took longer than 40 days to process in each of the last three years for which data is available.

Michael Penning: The following table shows the percentage of disability living allowance (DLA) new claims, for normal rules (NR), that took longer than 40 days to process. Claims not yet processed within 40 days, include cases where we are awaiting additional information from the claimant and/or medical evidence.
	
		
			 2012-13 
			  Number/percentage 
			 Volume of claims cleared (Number) 402,861 
			 Volume of claims cleared after 40 working days (Number) 89,678 
			 Percentage of DLA new claims (NR) cleared after 40 working days 22.3 
		
	
	Prior to 2012-13, the measure reported against was an actual average clearance time (AACT). This is the cumulative clearance days divided by the number of cleared events within the reporting period.
	The following table shows information for 2010-11 and 2011-12.
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 
			 Volume of claims cleared 431,572 412,556 
			 AACT (level 37.7 days) 30.3 27.2 
			 Notes: 1. The reported figure only relates to DLA (NR) new claims. NR claims are those where the claimant is not terminally ill and the normal rules of entitlement therefore apply. 2. The figures above cover the period from 1 April to 31 March and shows the national position including working age and child claimants. 3. The AACT level (37.7 days) shown in the table is a measure based on a prior year’s performance. 4. We have not provided data for 2013-14 due to not having a full financial year available at this time. Source: Department for Work and Pensions—RDA 80123 report—DLA Management Information Statistics.

Employment and Support Allowance

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to ensure that the support available on Saturdays for people appealing against the refusal of employment and support allowance is equivalent to that available on other days.

Shailesh Vara: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
	The First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), administered by HM Courts and Tribunals Service, hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions' decisions on a range of benefits, including employment and support allowance. The tribunal is designed to hear appeals from individuals without the need, for support from advocates.
	The panel that hears the appeal, which will comprise experts such as judges, doctors, translators, and mental health experts, will guide the appellant through the appeal process. An appeal is inquisitorial rather than adversarial in nature. Appellants may engage advocates to help in preparing for or attending an appeal, but this is a matter entirely for the individual.
	Appellants are asked before their case is listed if there are any days of the week, from Monday to Saturday, when they would be unable to attend a hearing. If Saturday is not convenient they can say so. Hearings which are held on a Saturday proceed exactly as they would on a weekday.
	If an appellant has engaged an advocate but the advocate is not available to attend the scheduled hearing the matter will be put to a judge as to whether the hearing should be re-listed.

Employment and Support Allowance

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time taken from an application for reconsideration of an employment and support allowance decision to a decision being made on the case was in each month since October 2013.

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what the average length of time taken to complete the employment and support allowance mandatory reconsideration process was in (a) 2012 and (b) 2013;
	(2)  what the longest time taken was for an employment and support allowance mandatory reconsideration process in (a) 2012 and (b) 2013.

Michael Penning: Mandatory reconsideration was introduced for employment and support allowance for decisions notified from 28 October 2013. The Department is collecting information to understand how it is operating from the point of its introduction, including the time taken from an application for reconsideration of an ESA decision to a decision being made on the case.
	At present, this data is not sufficiently robust and reliable to make available.

Flexible Support Fund

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants working less than 16 hours per week have received help in each year from the flexible support fund to cover child care expenses, (child care subsidy), in each year since its inception; and how much the Government has spent on such support in each such year.

Esther McVey: The information requested cannot be supplied without incurring disproportionate costs.

Flexible Support Fund

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants have received help from the flexible support fund to cover child care expenses for up to five days in the seven days immediately before starting working in each year since the fund's inception; and how much the Government has spent on such support in each such year.

Esther McVey: The information requested cannot be supplied without incurring disproportionate costs.

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what guidance his Department issues on (a) the amount of class 1 national insurance contributions an individual must have made and (b) for how long such contributions must be paid in order to be eligible for contribution-based jobseekers' allowance; and how his Department makes such guidance available to the public;
	(2)  what the criteria are for self-employed people to be eligible for contributions-based jobseekers' allowance.

Esther McVey: Guidance is provided in the Decision Makers Guide. Please see link to Chapter 20 for the basic conditions of entitlement (20003) and Chapter 21 for the contribution-based conditions (21051 onwards).
	With limited exceptions, only class 1 (employed) contributions count towards jobseeker's allowance (JSA). This means that self-employed people who make class 2 (self-employed) contributions do not normally qualify for JSA. The exceptions are share fishermen, and volunteer development workers employed abroad. People in these categories pay a special class 2 national insurance contribution at a higher rate, which enables them to qualify for contribution-based jobseeker's allowance.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department are working on developing the enhanced Universal Credit IT system.

Esther McVey: There are approximately 50 DWP staff working on the enhanced universal credit service.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects the first alternative Universal Credit digital service to be in use in a job centre.

Esther McVey: As part of the wider transformation of its services, the Department is developing an enhanced digital service for universal credit. As part of our commitment to testing universal credit as it develops, we expect to trial an early version of the enhanced digital service to a limited number of claimants later this year.

Vacancies: Internet

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many entries there are on the Universal Jobmatch database; and what his estimate is of the number of vacancies such entries represent;
	(2)  how many Universal Jobmatch employer accounts have been found to be in breach of its rules since the service started;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the extent of (a) fraud, (b) duplication of job entries and (c) entries for non-existent jobs in the Universal Jobmatch website;
	(4)  what his most recent assessment is of the (a) effectiveness and (b) value for money of Universal Jobmatch.

Esther McVey: Today, many jobs are only advertised on the internet. That's why we are doing everything we can to give those looking for work the skills and the opportunities to access them. Universal Jobmatch is a powerful tool for successfully connecting people to jobs, and it is delivering.
	The website launches a public service into the digital age, allowing people to search for work from their home, handheld devices, local libraries, as well as the traditional jobcentre. It allows employers to match jobseekers to their vacancies and gives our customers access to a greater number of opportunities. It puts them on an equal footing with everyone else seeking a new job in the UK. With over 6 million job searches per day, the service is clearly popular, successful, and value for money.
	At 18 March 2014, there were 507,474 vacancies on the service.
	All internet job sites face the issue of duplicate vacancies. We take this issue very seriously, and whenever we have a doubt about the validity of a job offer we will intervene, suspend the vacancy and investigate. If an employer breaches our terms and conditions we remove their right to advertise. Our continuing removal of such employers or jobs demonstrates that our system of checks works.
	Since Universal Jobmatch was launched in November 2012, we have removed 1,216 employer accounts that did not comply with our terms and conditions. That figure is equivalent to 0.2% of the total number of registered employer accounts.
	Universal Jobmatch has revolutionised the way we deliver the public employment service. With over 6,000,000 job searches per day at a cost of far less than 1p each, it represents excellent value for money.

Work Capability Assessment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 9 January 2014, Official Report, column 280W, on the work capability assessment, how many and what proportion of those who have undertaken a work capability test in each nation and region of the UK have been declared fit for work.

Michael Penning: Employment and support allowance (ESA) initial claims and incapacity benefit (IB) reassessment claims, by outcomes of work capability assessments by regions in Great Britain are published. The numbers and the proportion of fit for work decisions can be found in table 1a and table 11 at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/274091/esa_wca_140122.xls
	Notes:
	1. There is a reporting lag of approximately 8-months at the issuing date of this statistical output owing to the time needed to process data and time allowed to enable each cohort's assessment phase to elapse.
	2. Case load figures rounded to nearest hundred. Totals may not sum due to the rounding method use. Proportions are rounded to the nearest whole number.
	3. Figures include those cases where the functional assessment has not been completed.
	Information for Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Department for Social Development Northern Ireland statistics can be found at:
	http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/stats_and_research/benefit_publications.htm

Air Pollution

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he intends to publish a summary of the submissions to the consultation on the Clean Air Act 1993; and what his response is to that consultation.

Dan Rogerson: The responses to the Call for Evidence conducted to inform the review of the Clean Air Act are currently being compiled and analysed. A summary of the responses and Government reply will be published shortly.

Flood Control

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2014, Official Report, column 552W, on forests, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness in reducing flood risk of (a) the Slowing the flow project in North Yorkshire and the (b) Forestry Commission projects in the catchments of the (i) River Parrett in Somerset and (ii) River Irthing in Northumberland.

Dan Rogerson: The Forestry Commission, through its research agency, Forest Research, is continuing to monitor the effects of forests on flood flows in the cited projects.
	Observations in the Slowing the Flow project show the forest measures to be working as expected, but the data records are too short to confirm any reduction in flood risk at Pickering.
	The small scale of forest planting and short length of flow record at the study sites in the River Parrett catchment make it difficult to detect an impact on flood flows, but the data are being used to improve flood models.
	The River Irthing project is a long-term study of the impact of conifer afforestation on water flows within the Coalburn headwater catchment. Monitoring began in 1967 and assessments have been made of the effects of tree planting and growth on flood flows at various intervals since. The last was in 2003. A further evaluation is underway and is due to report in the summer.

Flood Control

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2014, Official Report, column 552W, on forests, if he will make it his policy to record these projects centrally.

Dan Rogerson: DEFRA has no plans to centralise the recording of the performance of specific flood management measures, such as forestry, water storage or hard defences, which could only be meaningfully evaluated on a case by case basis.

Floods: Housing

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information his Department holds on the number of households forced to seek alternative accommodation after their homes were flooded who were referred by their insurers to the Insurance Claim Accommodation Bureau (ICAB); how many such households were found homes by ICAB; and if he will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson: DEFRA does not hold details on the number of households that have been forced to seek alternative accommodation as a result of flooding, nor those referred to the Insurance Claim Accommodation Bureau. At the first meeting of the insurance industry on flooding on 18 February, Ministers were assured that there was sufficient alternative accommodation available.

Floods: Insurance

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will monitor home insurance premiums to ensure that increases relating to risks of flooding are justified; and if he will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson: The Government is addressing the issue of excessive flood premiums through the introduction of a flood reinsurance scheme, known as Flood Re. Flood Re will effectively limit the amount that most UK households should have to pay for flood insurance to ensure that people can continue to access affordable home insurance.
	At the first monthly meeting with the insurance industry on 18 February, Ministers were assured that there was no evidence of insurers raising premiums for flood risk properties in advance of Flood Re starting in 2015.
	In addition, DEFRA will undertake and publish market monitoring research.

Fly Tipping

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to tackle the illegal dumping of commercial waste.

Dan Rogerson: The Government is taking the following action to tackle the illegal dumping of all types of waste, including commercial waste:
	(a) Prevention: We are helping to prevent fly-tipping by making it easier for businesses to dispose of their waste legally. For instance, the Waste and Resources Action Programme has produced a best practice guide to help local authorities and waste management companies set up 'bring sites' in business parks.
	(b) Cracking down on offenders: DEFRA has worked with the Sentencing Council on its new guideline for sentencing environmental offences. The guideline, published last month, should result in larger fines for serious offenders, thereby helping deter illegal dumping. The Government fully supports the Environment Agency taking appropriate and timely enforcement action against illegal waste sites.
	(c) Tackling fly-tipping through partnership: We are working with the National Fly-tipping Prevention Group to provide guidance to those affected by illegal dumping. The group includes representatives from the Local Government Association, the Environment Agency and land owner and management organisations. The group is working on a Fly-Tipping Partnership Framework, which gives best practice options for the prevention, reporting, investigation and clearance of fly-tipping. This is designed to be used and adapted by local partnerships to suit the particular circumstances in their areas.

Forests

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2014, Official Report, column 552W, on forests, what records (a) his Department and (b) the Environment Agency keeps of the projects it has funded and the performance of each against its objectives.

Dan Rogerson: The Environment Agency maintains national level records of the flood and coastal erosion risk management schemes funded through DEFRA flood defence capital grant in aid, which show the benefits that schemes will deliver against outcome measures agreed with DEFRA.
	Progress against these outcome measures is reported to DEFRA quarterly and a summary is published on the Environment Agency website. This does not include a breakdown of the performance of specific flood management measures, such as forestry, water storage or hard defences, which could only be meaningfully evaluated on a case by case basis.

Mercury

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he will bring forward proposals to incorporate the Minamata Convention on mercury into domestic law.

Dan Rogerson: The Minamata Convention on mercury will be open for ratification from 10 October 2014. A proposal for EU legislation to facilitate ratification by member states is expected in early 2015. The Government is working in parallel with the EU process so as to be able to ratify the Convention at the earliest opportunity.

Public Footpaths

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the needs of small landowners who have had public footpaths wrongfully placed on their property; and what steps his Department has taken to mitigate the effects of such footpaths.

Dan Rogerson: I am very much aware that small landowners can experience problems with public rights of way that pass over their land.
	All public rights of way are required to be recorded on a definitive map and statement, which is the local authority’s legal record on public rights of way. If a landowner believes that a public right of way has been wrongly recorded, then that landowner may make an application to their local authority to have the definitive map and statement modified.
	Where a landowner is unable to establish that the definitive map and statement should be modified, then it may be possible to have the right of way diverted or extinguished.
	Through clauses in the current Deregulation Bill, we are making effective legislation that provides for a statutory ‘right to apply’ for landowners. This would enable landowners to make a formal application for diversion or extinguishment of a right of way on their land and appeal to the Secretary of State should the local authority refuse the application or fail to consider it. Clause 16 of the Bill would enable the ‘right to apply’ to be extended to land use types other than agriculture, forestry and the keeping of horses, to which current legislation restricts it.
	In addition, a Stakeholder Working Group on rights of way reforms has developed draft guidance for local authorities setting out how a presumption in favour of a landowner’s request for a diversion should operate, where a public right of way passes through a family home, working farmyard or commercial premises where privacy, safety and security are a concern.

Rivers

Mark Reckless: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what enforcement powers exist in relation to overhanging vegetation impeding a river's flow; and how many times such enforcement action has taken place in the last five years.

Dan Rogerson: Overhanging vegetation is not a specific offence. The impedance of flow in a Main River is covered by Section 107 (3) of the Water Resources Act 1991. Impedance in itself is not an offence under the Act, but Section 107 allows the Environment Agency to serve notice on the landowner to remove the impedance. Failure to comply with a notice is an offence, although there is a right of appeal.
	For ordinary watercourses, powers similar to those under Section 107 of the Water Resources Act for use by both local authorities and Internal Drainage Boards, are contained in Section 25 of the Land Drainage Act 1991.
	There are also local byelaws enacted under Section 210 and 211 of the Water Resources Act 1991, which give the Environment Agency powers to serve notice on landowners to “remove growth” on Main River banks for the purpose of preventing obstruction to flow.
	The Environment Agency does not currently keep central records of notices served.
	The Environment Agency is in the process of introducing a case management system which will include the ability to capture electronically data relating to enforcement actions.

Rural Areas: Broadband

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2014, Official Report, columns 77-78W, on rural areas: broadband, how much of the £15.5 million funding is for projects (a) granted, (b) under pre-contract approval and (c) still under consideration for funding.

George Eustice: The breakdown for funding to date under the Rural Community Broadband Fund is as follows:
	(a) Projects granted (contracted) total £0.459 million;
	(b) Projects with pre-contract approval total £0.646 million; and
	(c) Projects under consideration total £14.2 million.
	Until contracted, all costs are estimated and subject to revision.

Rural Areas: Broadband

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2014, Official Report, columns 77-8W, on rural areas: broadband, whether there will be a requirement to return unspent funds from the Rural Community Broadband Fund.

George Eustice: There is no requirement to return unspent European funding under the Rural Community Broadband Fund if it can be spent elsewhere under the Rural Development Programme for England. Where possible, any remaining EU funds will be utilised elsewhere across the programme.

Water Abstraction

Therese Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been raised by the licence fee and environmental improvement unit charge in each region by (a) volume and (b) amount in the last three years.

Dan Rogerson: The annual subsistence charge, which comprises the Standard Unit Charge (SUC) and the Environmental Improvement Unit Charge (EIUC), is usually payable by everyone who holds a full licence to abstract water. The total amounts for the SUC and EIUC for each Environment Agency region collected over the last three years is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 SUC and EIUC Income 
			 £000 
			  2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 
			 Region SUC EIUC SUC EIUC SUC EIUC 
			 Anglian 23,299 3,053 24,153 4,679 23,747 2,130 
			 Midlands 19,702 2,419 19,732 4,096 19,378 0 
			 North West 9,625 1,811 9,218 3,132 8,972 4,354 
			 Northumbria 20,703 0 20,628 0 21,485 0 
			 South West 9,416 879 9,271 896 9,685 357 
			 Southern 11,013 1,831 10,642 3,010 10,564 534 
			 Thames 16,411 3,133 17,176 5,311 17,060 7,357 
			 Yorkshire 6,710 67 6,758 96 6,774 82 
			 Wales 18,417 182 18,215 276 19,014 327 
			 Total 135,296 13,375 135,793 21,496 136,679 15,141 
		
	
	Annual licensed volume is one of a number of variables used in calculating charges. Consequently it is not been possible to calculate charge income based on volume alone.

Confiscation Orders

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2014, Official Report, columns 125-6W, on taxation: fraud, how much of the total value of confiscation orders imposed by the Crown Prosecution Service in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13 has been recovered.

Oliver Heald: The answer of 10 March 2014, Official Report, columns 125-26W, provided the number of and value of confiscation orders obtained for cases categorised as tax and benefit fraud or VAT fraud for the past three financial years. The following table provides the amounts paid to date against those orders:
	
		
			  Number of orders granted Amount paid (£) 
			 2010-11 253 9,205,329.27 
			 2011-12 557 23,425,312.29 
			 2012-13 352 14,949,528.87 
		
	
	This data has been taken from the JARD database which reflects the status of the orders reported at the time the data is extracted. As a result, the amounts reported represent the total amounts paid up to the date at which the data was extracted.

Crown Prosecution Service

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General pursuant to the answer of 17 December 2013, Official Report columns 545-6W, on Crown Prosecution Service, on which date the lease of each of the closed offices expired; and how much was paid by the Crown Prosecution Service in rent for each such office between closure and expiry of the lease.

Oliver Heald: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) estate rationalisation programme began in 2009 and is set to be completed in 2016. The CPS is forecasting annual running cost savings of £20 million by 2016 compared to estate running costs when the programme began. The CPS has reduced annual estate running costs from £52.47 million in 2008-09 to £45.13 million in 2012-13.
	It is not unusual for an office to be vacated before lease expiry. Often a period of time is needed to decommission a building, removing IT systems, infrastructure and furniture and allowing time for any works to be carried out in accordance with dilapidations obligations.
	The following table includes details of the lease expiry, office closure dates and rent paid between lease expiry and closure or to 24 January 2014 where the lease is still live, for all properties listed in my answer of 17 December.
	
		
			 Site Office closure Lease expiry Rent paid between lease expiry and closure (£) 
			 Stratford, London 15 May 2010 5 May 2010 0 
			 Harrow 1 June 2010 3 August 2010 79,964 
		
	
	
		
			 Workington 13 June 2010 12 June 2014 95,114 
			 London, Ludgate Hill EC4 14 June 2010 30 June 2010 0 
			 Lancaster 29 October 2010 28 September 2015 184,953 
			 Leamington Spa 10 December 2010 28 September 2012 60,953 
			 Eastbourne 15 March 2011 31 March 2011 1,091 
			 Truro 27 March 2011 31 March 2011 0 
			 Birkenhead 10 April 2011 30 April 2011 0 
			 Blackpool 14 May 2011 31 May 2011 0 
			 Harrogate 1 June 2011 19 June 2011 0 
			 Wolverhampton 14 August 2011 22 August 2011 0 
			 Rochdale 14 September 2011 30 September 2011 0 
			 Northampton (Beaumont House) 14 September 2011 30 September 2011 0 
			 New Kings Beam House, London, SE1 31 October 2011 24 December2011 1,000,754 
			 Salford 20 November 2011 31 December 2011 28,214 
			 Mansfield 3 February 2012 3 February 2012 0 
			 Grimsby 14 March 2012 31 March 2012 0 
			 Aylesbury 6 July 2012 13 March 2013 47,169 
			 Swansea 5 September 2012 22 November 2012 11,468 
			 Chester 20 November 2012 23 June 2014 88,687 
			 Coventry 3 December 2012 24 December 2014 954,375 
			 Stafford 19 February 2013 16 November 2016 130,910 
			 Chichester 1 March 2013 8 March 2013 0 
			 Bradford 2 March 2013 30 September 2018 71,550 
			 Athena House, York 10 March 2013 4 February 2015 171,212 
			 Durham 27 March 2013 31 March 2015 74,428 
			 Bristol 31 March 2013 31 March 2013 0 
			 Newtown 1 April 2013 1 April 2014 24,480 
			 Warrington 5 April 2013 24 December 2016 0 
			 Northampton (Riverside House) 29 June 2013 31 July 2013 12,660 
			 York (United House) 13 October 2013 12 December 2013 0 
			 Merthyr Tydfil 31 October 2013 25 March 2015 18,000 
			 Liverpool 3 November 2013 31 December 2013 0 
			 Crosby 4 November 2013 7 May 2016 25,625 
			 Derby 8 November 2013 24 December 2013 0 
			 Cwmbran 20 November 2013 24 March 2018 36,258 
			 Bournemouth 21 November 2013 24 November 2013 122,450 
			 Luton 24 November 2013 23 June 2014 34,500 
			 Shrewsbury 15 December 2013 24 December 2013 0 
			 1 This is an overpayment which the CPS is seeking to recoup. 
		
	
	Since 2010 the CPS have also vacated a number of police stations some of which involved a formal agreement to occupy space. Since vacating these sites, the CPS has made payments totalling £339,430 in respect of such properties.
	In addition to amounts paid to date the CPS estimates future liabilities of £3.5 million in respect of vacant properties.
	Notwithstanding these payments the CPS is forecasting annual running cost savings of £20 million by 2016 compared to estate running costs when the programme began.
	Rental payments to leaseholders are made through the Department's property managing agents (DTZ). This answer is based on information provided by DTZ. Every effort has been made to ensure that information is complete and accurate but a full reconciliation has not been completed as it would not be cost effective to do so.

Prosecutions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what proportion of successful Crown Prosecution Service rape-flagged prosecutions were for (a) rape or attempted rape, (b) any other kind of sexual assault, (c) a non-sexual offence against the person and (d) another offence in each of the last six years.

Oliver Heald: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the numbers of cases flagged as rape through the electronic Case Management System. A rape flag is applied to the electronic record at the outset of a case; and remains in place if the charges are subsequently amended or dropped. As a result, it is not possible to disaggregate defendants convicted of rape offences from those that were convicted of other non-rape charges.
	Official crime and court proceedings and sentencing statistics are maintained by the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice respectively.

Terrorism: Northern Ireland

Lady Hermon: To ask the Attorney-General pursuant to the Statement by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland of 28 February 2014, Official Report, columns 38-40WS, on the on-the-runs scheme, what assessment he has made of the legal status of the administrative letters issued to on-the-runs; and if he will make a statement.

Dominic Grieve: I have made no assessment. The status of the letters is a matter that may be considered by the right hon. Dame Heather Hallett in her review.

Fracking

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will take steps to regulate hydraulic fracturing to minimise the leakage of methane from shale gas production into the environment.

Michael Fallon: The Environment Agency has set out its regulatory controls over leakage of methane from shale gas exploration in its draft technical guidance. The Agency expects operators to aim for 100% containment of fugitive emissions of methane on shale gas exploration sites and the operator will need to provide details of how their monitoring, inspection and maintenance regime will achieve this. The Environment Agency is assessing its regulation of full production facilities and the expectation is that the requirement for 100% containment will remain in place.

Green Deal Scheme

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what savings would accrue to Green Deal customers of Green Deal providers were able to access the supporting data for Green Deal reports held by his Department.

Gregory Barker: Green Deal customers receive a Green Deal Advice Report which provides energy savings estimates for the package of improvements recommended by a Green Deal adviser. These savings are calculated by approved Green Deal software. The Green Deal Advice Report can subsequently be tailored by Green Deal providers using the Green Deal Improvement Package Tool and following discussions with customers of the improvements they want to take up. Providers will also discuss the detail of any financing arrangement that the customer wants. Providing customers with access to supporting data held on the Green Deal Register is unnecessary as part of the Green Deal process and would not change the savings that accrue to customers.
	A list of approved Green Deal software can be found at:
	http://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/SAP/2009/GD_OA_software.pdf
	The Green Deal Improvement Package Tool can be found at:
	https://www.gdsap.org.uk

Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will publish Birmingham city council's bid for funding for a weekly refuse collection.

Brandon Lewis: The Weekly Collection Support Scheme's prospectus told bidding local authorities:
	“we will not disclose the nature, scale and scope of individual bids... Once offer letters have been issued the department may publish top line information about bids where this is deemed to be in the public interest (for example, the name of the successful lead bidding authority, the amount that will be awarded and nature and scale of the successful proposal(s))”.
	The reasoning for this stance is that such information is closely linked to tendering and procurement processes in local authorities. Waste management is an area which is frequently outsourced, and where robust financial negotiations are needed by local authorities during the procurement stages to obtain value for money.
	In that context, disclosure of such bids could have an adverse effect on competition between companies in this process and put local authorities in a disadvantageous position. For example, the disclosure of budget set aside for a purchase could encourage suppliers to raise their prices and prejudice the bargaining position of a local authority.
	While some time has now passed since the bids were made, I believe that disclosure, contrary to the commitments made in the prospectus, could discourage local authorities from applying to other commercially-sensitive funding opportunities in the future; it would therefore not be in the public interest to break that commitment.

Housing: Construction

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what proportion of all new housing in each local authority area since March 2010 was classed as (a) social and (b) affordable;
	(2)  how many and what proportion of housing starts in each English local authority area since March 2010 were classed as (a) social and (b) affordable.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 20 March 2014
	The Homes and Communities Agency publishes information about the number of affordable housing starts on site and completions for programmes it funds, broken down by local authority and by tenure. This information can be found here:
	http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/housing-statistics
	From April 2012, the Mayor of London has had strategic oversight of housing, regeneration and economic development in London. This means that the Homes and Communities Agency no longer publish affordable housing statistics for London and this responsibility has been taken over by the Greater London Authority. Affordable housing starts on site and completions for programmes they fund, broken down by London borough and by tenure can be found here:
	http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/housing-land/increasing-housing-supply/gla-affordable-housing-statistics
	These statistics do not include information on any affordable housing started on site that has not been reported to either, such as some affordable housing funded solely through developer contributions.
	The Department also collects information about the total number of houses started and completed in each local authority district. This information is published in table 253 here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building
	Over 170,000 new affordable homes have been delivered in England since April 2010 (to the end of September 2013). Our affordable housing programme will lever in £19.5 billion of public and private investment over the current spending review period. Over 2015-18, we will be investing a further £23 billion in public and private funding for affordable housing.

Local Government: Pensions

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  when he plans to respond to the consultation on the Local Government Pension Scheme launched in May 2013;
	(2)  if he will publish the three commissions provided by Hymans Robertson LLP, Squire Sanders (UK) LLP and CEM Benchmarking on the Local Government Pensions Scheme.

Brandon Lewis: My Department and the Local Government Association jointly issued a call for evidence on the future structure of the Local Government Pension Scheme in June 2013. I have been considering the submissions to the call for evidence alongside the Shadow Scheme Advisory Board's advice and recommendations and the further analysis that I commissioned from Hymans Robertson and their subcontractors using the Contestable Policy Fund. I intend to consult on my proposals for reform, which have been developed in the light of all of this evidence, shortly.

London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the governance arrangements of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority to make its members more accountable to the Mayor of London.

Brandon Lewis: In the Government response to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee Report: “Post-Legislative Scrutiny of the Greater London Authority Act 2007 and the London Assembly” (Cm 8761, December 2013), we stated that the Government accepts that there is scope for reform in this area and is willing to listen to alternative governance models for fire in London.
	I understand that the Greater London Assembly is currently undertaking a consultation on reform of fire service decision making in London. The outcome of this consultation will help inform the Mayor as to whether he should ask the Secretary of State to use his Order making power under the Greater London Act 1999 to amend the membership of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.
	If and when we receive the Mayor's request we will consider it in accordance with the legislative requirements set out in schedule 28 of the Greater London Act 1999.

Public Sector: Pensions

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals relating to the Transitional Protection Regulations for England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: The Local Government Pension Scheme (transitional Provisions, Savings and Amendment) Regulations 2014 were made on 5 March 2014, laid before Parliament on 10 March and will come into effect on 1 April 2014.
	The regulations make transitional provision between the existing Local Government Pension Schemes in England and Wales and the new scheme which will come into effect on 1 April 2014. They preserve benefits accrued by members under the existing schemes and make provision to ensure that members within 10 years of their normal retirement age on 31 March 2012 do not suffer any detriment. The reformed scheme will ensure that local government pensions are fair, affordable and sustainable in the long-term, and are justifiable to taxpayers who foot the bill for employer contributions.

Smoke Alarms

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the effect on the likelihood of (a) death and (b) non-fatal injury as a result of fire in a domestic dwelling of being without a smoke alarm.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 20 March 2014
	The Department has carried out analysis looking at the relationship between rates of fatal fires and ownership of a working smoke alarm. This combined fire incident record details of whether a working smoke alarm was present in fatal dwelling fires with national estimates of rates of ownership of a working smoke alarm. This concluded that the likelihood of dying in a fire was at least four times greater in a household with no working smoke alarm, and possibly as high as eight times greater.
	The Government remains committed to ensuring the fire safety of people in their own homes. The long-running Fire Kills campaign works closely with fire and rescue authorities to promote fire prevention messages and also encourage householders to have working smoke alarms installed in their homes. Ownership has increased from 8% in 1988 to 88% in 2011. The current national advertising campaign—“Tick Tock Test”—commenced on 17 March and will run through to 30 March, encouraging people to test their smoke alarms when they change their clocks at the start of British summer time.
	We are also consulting on the requirements for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in the private rented sector.

Smoke Alarms

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of (i) privately rented, (ii) social and (iii) owner-occupied homes in England with no working smoke alarm in each of the last three years.

Kris Hopkins: The latest available estimates, taken from the English Housing Survey, are in the following table.
	
		
			 Households by tenure with no working smoke alarm. England, 2008 and 2011 
			  Households with no working smoke alarm (million) Percentage of households 
			 Tenure of dwelling 2008 2011 2008 2011 
			 Owner occupied 2.0 1.6 13.6 11.5 
			 Private rented 0.7 0.7 20.5 17.7 
			 Local authority 0.3 0.2 13.6 11.2 
			 Housing association 0.2 0.1 8.3 6.5 
			 All tenures 3.2 2.6 14.1 12.0 
			 Source: English Housing Survey, DCLG 
		
	
	The Government remains committed to ensuring the fire safety of people in their own homes. The long-running Fire Kills campaign works closely with fire and rescue authorities to promote fire prevention messages and encourage householders-across all forms of tenure-to have working smoke alarms installed in their homes. The current national advertising campaign-'Tick Tock Test'-commenced on Monday 17 March and will run through to 30 March, encouraging people to test their smoke alarms when they change their clocks at the start of British Summer Time.

Equality

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities if she will press for adoption of a specific goal on gender equality in the post-Millennium Development Goals framework when she attends the 2014 UN Convention on the Status of Women; and if she will make a statement.

Helen Grant: The UK has been clear in its call for a standalone goal on gender equality and girls’ and women's empowerment, as well as ensuring that these issues are addressed throughout the goals and targets in the framework to be agreed by members of the United Nations. The UK's statement at the Commission on the Status of Women clearly set out the need for a standalone goal on gender equality, and the empowerment of girls and women in the post-2015 framework.
	We are working with others across the international community, including civil society, to ensure that this is achieved.

UN Commission On the Status of Women

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what representations she has received from civil society organisations on preparations for the 2014 UN Convention on the Status of Women.

Helen Grant: Active engagement with civil society has been a key element of our preparations and plans for the 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women. A robust programme of consultation and engagement with a wide range of civil society organisations has been put in place by my officials in the Government Equalities Office. As part of this, we have been able to take account of the views and representations of UK NGOs in our negotiations at CSW. These have included representations on the following:
	i. A priorities paper on the post-2015 agenda from the UK NGO CSW Alliance; ii. A submission from the Gender and Development Network; and,
	iii. Statements on millennium development goals and the post-2015 framework from faith-based organisations and international civil society organisations.

Afghanistan

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much the UK has spent on construction and maintenance of Camp Bastion in each financial year since 2012.

Mark Francois: Camp Bastion was constructed in 2006, so information prior to this date, does not exist. Nor is it possible to identify all Bastion construction and operation and maintenance costs since 2006, as a number of the relevant contracts covered all of our larger bases. These costs are therefore accounted for collectively for all bases in Afghanistan and, updated for 2013-14 to date, are as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year Costs (£ million) 
			 2006-07 67.809 
			 2007-08 80.855 
			 2008-09 87.214 
			 2009-10 116.905 
			 2010-11 177.029 
			 2011-12 77.528 
			 2012-13 48.409 
			 2013-14 62.008 
		
	
	The 2013-14 costs include those associated with drawdown and remediation, as well as Force Protection measures responding to the evolving threat. Significant infrastructure has been created at Camp Bastion to repatriate vehicles and material back to the UK.

Armed Forces: Redundancy

Michael Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many soldiers have been made compulsorily redundant since May 2010; and what proportion of those soldiers were within one year of receiving a pension.

Andrew Murrison: A total of 6,330 Army personnel have left on compulsory redundancy between May 2010 and 1 February 2014. This figure comprises both applicants and non-applicants.
	Of these, we estimate that approximately 1.3% of redundees were within one year of their Immediate Pension Point (IPP).

Dounreay

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  when the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) was informed of the leak of radiation which occurred at the Vulcan nuclear test reactor at Dounreay in January 2012; and for what reason there was a delay in informing ONR of that incident;
	(2)  pursuant to the statement of 6 March 2014, Official Report, columns 1077-79, on nuclear submarines, what consultations his Department undertook with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency on measurable levels of increased radiation at the Vulcan test reactor between the leak at that reactor and the date of that statement.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when his Department informed (a) the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator, (b) the Office for Nuclear Regulation and (c) the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency of the incident at the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment in January 2012.

Philip Dunne: There has been no leak of radiation from the reactor at the Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE) at Dounreay.
	The Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR), the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) have different regulatory responsibilities in relation to the Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE). They were each informed at a time appropriate to those responsibilities.
	DNSR was informed in January 2012, immediately after the detection of low levels of radioactivity in the cooling water within the reactor, due to its responsibility for the regulation of the safe operation of the site and of the safety of operational submarines.
	The ONR regulates emergency planning at the NRTE, under the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001, and radiation doses to workers on site, under the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999. The ONR was first made aware of the issue in May 2012, shortly after the most probable cause was identified as a breach in a small area of the metal cladding that surrounds one fuel element within the core of the reactor, at which point the MOD and the ONR were able to make an informed judgment on issues relating to ONR responsibilities.
	SEPA regulates discharges from the NRTE under a Memorandum of Understanding on matters relating to radioactive substances. SEPA was first made aware of the issue in October 2012, shortly after the relevant site regulators had assessed and agreed the way ahead, including modifications to the plant to further improve monitoring and sampling, and plans to restart the reactor, at which point the MOD and SEPA were able to make an informed judgment on issues relating to SEPA responsibilities.
	Since SEPA was first made aware, there have been a number of site inspections and meetings at which updates were provided.

Electronic Warfare

Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many meetings he has had with industry on UK cyber hygiene policy in the last three years.

Mark Francois: Work to improve wider UK cyber hygiene is being undertaken by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and they lead on industry engagement in this area. The Ministry of Defence is also involved with industry in the Defence Cyber Protection Partnership (DCPP), which reports to the Defence Suppliers’ Forum (DSF).
	The DSF is chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), and first met in July 2011. There have been seven meetings in total and cyber was an agenda item on three occasions.

Electronic Warfare

Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with the NATO Co-operative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.

Mark Francois: During December of last year, the Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), visited the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence located in Tallinn, Estonia, ahead of the UK's official joining of the centre. He was briefed by the centre of excellence on the benefits to the UK as a sponsoring nation and the programme of research and development work that takes place there. The UK has a permanent staff member seconded to the centre, demonstrating our commitment and close ongoing relationship.

HMS Victory

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which individuals or organisations his Department consulted before the transfer of the wreck of HMS Victory 1744.

Anna Soubry: On 25 March 2010, under the previous Government, the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport launched a public consultation on the future management approach that should be adopted towards the wreck of HMS Victory 1744. The results of that consultation were published in July 2011 and are available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/105731/victory_response.pdf
	The Government's response included a List of Contributors:
	Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites; Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology; Alderney Maritime Trust; Archaeologist -Bournemouth University; Archaeologist-University of St Andrews; Augurship 320 Ltd; Representatives of the Balchin Family; Representative of the Temple-West Family; BG Energy Holdings Ltd; British Sub Aqua Club; Council for British Archaeology; Diver-British Sub Aqua Club; English Heritage; Falmouth Divers Ltd; Former Premier of Bermuda G P Resorts (USA); History Hunters International; International Committee on Underwater Cultural Heritage; Joint Nautical Archaeology Policy Committee; Lecturer in Archaeology-Institute of Archaeology; Maritime Historian Mary Rose Trust; Members of the Public, from the UK and overseas (mainly USA); Ministry of Defence-Defence Equipment & Spares (Salvage and Moorings Operation); National Maritime Museum Nautical Archaeology Society; Nelson Society; Odyssey Marine Exploration; Ordnance Historian; Ordnance Researcher; Planet Electronics Ltd; ProMare UK; Professional Association of Diving Instructors; Professor of Archaeology-Institute of Archaeologists; Receiver of Wreck; Rescue-The British Archaeological Trust; Retired Archaeologist; Seaquest Ltd; Searex Inc; Society of Antiquaries; Student of Archaeology-Warwick University; UNESCO; USA Publisher; Wreck Watch.

Malaysia Airlines

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assistance has been provided by the (a) Royal Navy and (b) Royal Air Force in the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Mark Francois: HMS Echo, a Royal Navy Survey vessel, is currently en route to support the search effort. It will take some time to arrive and the exact role will depend on the status of the investigation when it arrives.
	Experts from the Ministry of Defence, the Hydrographic Office, the Department for Transport and the Meteorological Office are working in close co-operation with Malaysian and other international partners to analyse available satellite, weather and sea data to help locate the aircraft.
	Royal Air Force loan personnel on secondment to the Royal New Zealand Air Force are actively involved in maritime search operations.

Military Police

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will take steps to bring the Service Police Force under the remit of the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Anna Soubry: I can confirm that the scope for independent oversight of complaints against the Service police forces is currently under consideration. No decisions have yet been taken, including on the question of whether the IPCC would be best placed to provide such oversight.

Service Prosecuting Authority

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times civilian counsel have been briefed by the service prosecution authority in each year since 2006; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) did not become fully operational until 2009. The following table shows the number of cases in each year since 2009 that the SPA has instructed civilian counsel.
	
		
			  Number of cases civilian counsel instructed 
			 2009 7 
			 2010 7 
			 2010 7 
			 2011 10 
			 2012 12 
			 2013 11 
			 2014 (to 17 March 2014) 3 
		
	
	The SPA may have instructed civilian counsel on a number of occasions for each case.
	The SPA, in the same way as the Crown Prosecution Service, instruct counsel on complex, serious and high profile cases.

United Arab Emirates

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons HMS Tireless was refused permission to dock in the United Arab Emirates.

Mark Francois: As a matter of routine we do not discuss submarine operations, but I can give assurances that HMS Tireless' visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was not for any maintenance-related issues or repairs. HMS Tireless paid a successful visit to the UAE between 15 and 20 March.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what additional surveillance capability the Watchkeeper system will provide over the Hermes 450 UAV following the commencement of army trials.

Mark Francois: The H-450 Tactical Unmanned Air System currently provides operational commanders in Helmand with a 24 hour, Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) capability supplying accurate, timely and high quality imagery intelligence to support decision making, using electro-optical and infrared sensors. Watchkeeper, while similar in appearance to H-450, is fitted with an additional sensor payload of a synthetic aperture radar/ground-moving target indicator radar. This radar will create a persistent and flexible all-weather ISTAR capability with the ability to conduct surveillance through cloud and obscuration. This radar also allows Watchkeeper to conduct wide-area surveillance of a battlefield and, when operated as part of an integrated ISTAR network, will enable Watchkeeper to cue and direct other ISTAR platforms. With improved sensor range when compared to the optical systems, the radar will also enable the covert surveillance of targets.

Football

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on bringing forward legislative proposals to abolish the Football League creditors' rule; and if she will make a statement.

Helen Grant: The Government has no current plans to legislate regarding the insolvency of football clubs. The football authorities have made significant moves over recent years to put their clubs on a stronger financial footing, principally through the introduction of financial fair play rules, and I hope that these rules will negate the need for football to rely on the Football Creditors Rule in cases of club insolvencies. I will continue to monitor this area closely, however, and will not hesitate to bring forward legislation if required.

Gambling: North West

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of people in (a) the North West, (b) Lancashire and (c) Pendle constituency who suffer from a gambling addiction.

Helen Grant: The Government does not hold problem gambling statistics on a local level however the latest Health Survey for England recorded an overall problem gambling rate of between 0.4% and 0.5%, depending on the measure used.

Nurseries

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of workplace nurseries available to staff in (a) her Department and (b) her Department's Executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies in (i) 2010, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.

Helen Grant: DCMS employees have not had access to workplace nurseries in 2010, 2013-14 and 2014-15. DCMS has one Executive agency, The Royal Parks. Their employees do not have access to workplace nurseries. DCMS does not hold this information for its 44 arm’s length bodies.

Government Departments: Pay

John McDonnell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what payroll deductions other than trades union subscriptions are made from Government Department employees through the check-off system.

Francis Maude: It is a matter for each Government Department to decide which organisations can collect their subscriptions through the employers' payroll service.

Arctic

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department will take with the Arctic Council and its member states to implement the recent resolution of the EU Parliament on protecting the Arctic environment and (a) create a conservation area in the waters around the North Pole, (b) develop an agreement to prevent pollution from Arctic drilling and (c) institute a ban on industrialised fishing.

Mark Simmonds: Our officials are attending the Arctic Council meeting of Senior Arctic Officials taking place in Canada this week. We will (a) reiterate our support for the principle of designating marine protected areas in international waters, where the science supports it; (b) welcome the work of the Arctic Council’s Task Force that is developing an oil spill prevention agreement between the Arctic states, and encourage its early conclusion; and (c) consider the emerging outcomes of discussions between the five coastal Arctic states to identify interim precautionary measures to prevent future fisheries in the Arctic high seas.

Burma

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether HM Ambassador to Burma has discussed with the Government of Burma its failure to implement drug eradication agreements with the Restoration Council of Shan State and UNODC.

Hugo Swire: HM Ambassador to Burma has not discussed with the Burmese Government the implementation of drug eradication agreements with the Restoration Council of Shan State and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Colombia

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations his Department has made to the Colombian Government about extra-judicial killings.

Hugo Swire: During Colombia's Universal Periodic Review in April 2013 the UK recommended that all cases of extra-judicial killings be investigated promptly and in line with international humanitarian and international human rights law. The Permanent Under-Secretary and the ambassador also made representations to the Colombian Government on this point in 2013.
	The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), and the Deputy Prime Minister both raised wider human rights issues with President Santos during their visit to Colombia in February.

Kenya

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many vehicles are owned or leased by the British High Commission in Nairobi; and what the make of each such vehicle is.

David Lidington: The British high commission (BHC) in Nairobi has 67 vehicles in its general purpose fleet. 38 of those are owned by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the remainder are owned by other UK Government Departments working in Kenya. The FCO vehicles are:
	
		
			 Model Quantity 
			 Land Rover Defender 4 
			 Land Rover Freelander 1 
		
	
	
		
			 Land Rover Discovery 1 
			 Toyota Prado 4 
			 Toyota Fortuner 2 
			 Toyota Hiace 3 
			 Toyota Landcruiser 5 
			 Isuzu TFR 3 
			 Isuzu NPR Truck 1 
			 Isuzu TFR Truck 2 
			 Toyota Doublecab 8 
			 Toyota Condor Minivan 3 
			 Toyota Probox 1 
			 Total 38 
		
	
	The vehicles are used for the official business and operations of the British High Commission in Nairobi.

Russia

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the restrictions announced in respect of Mr Slutsky, a member of the Russian Parliament, apply to his privileges and immunities as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: Membership of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe does not prevent the European Union from designating any individual under Council Decision 2014/145/CFSP nor from them being subject to both the asset freeze and travel ban provisions set out in that Decision. However, Article l(3)(a) of the Council Decision 2014/145/CFSP provides for an exemption to the travel ban where a member state is bound by an obligation of international law as a host country to an international intergovernmental organisation. The General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe requires States Parties (including the UK) to allow Representatives free movement to and from the place of meeting of the Assembly. EU member states also have the discretion under Article 1(6) of the Council Decision to consider granting an exemption to a designated person where travel is justified on other grounds including on the grounds of attending intergovernmental meetings.

Russia

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2014, Official Report, column 49W, on Russia, whether the Government has made an attempt to have a discussion with Council of Europe counterparts about suspending the Russian Federation from membership.

David Lidington: We have not had or requested any discussions with Council of Europe counterparts on the Russian Federation's membership. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) met Secretary General Jagland of the Council of Europe on 20 March 2014 when he discussed the situation in Ukraine and the role of the Council of Europe.

UN Open-ended Working Group on Ageing

Sheila Gilmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which is the lead Department for the UK’s participation in the UN Open-ended Working Group on Ageing.

David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has represented the UK at the UN Open-ended Working Group on Ageing and consulted widely with relevant Government Departments to inform the UK approach.

Venezuela

Simon Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on political unrest in Venezuela; and if he will make a statement.

Hugo Swire: I am deeply concerned about the reports of violence associated with protests in various cities in Venezuela since early February. I receive regular reports on the situation from our embassy in Caracas.
	The majority of the demonstrations, including large-scale gatherings organised by the Government or by the opposition, have been peaceful, but some disturbances have been marred by violence. At least 30 people have been killed and over 350 injured. About half the victims are anti-government protestors, but members of the police and national guard, pro-government supporters and bystanders have also been killed. According to official figures, there have been over 1,600 detainees, out of which around 1,300 have been released on parole and await trial. Over 100 remain in detention also awaiting trial. Over 40 police officers are being investigated for using excessive force in dealing with protestors, of which 15 have been detained.
	The number and frequency of the incidents has decreased in the last two weeks but there are still violent incidents. We continue to the monitor the situation carefully, and call on all sides to refrain from violence, to reduce tensions and to create the conditions for genuine dialogue.
	The UNASUR group of South American countries agreed on 12 March to send a commission of Foreign Ministers to Venezuela by early April to accompany, support and advise a broad and constructive process of political dialogue. We hope that this can play a positive role in helping to prevent violence and to promote reconciliation in Venezuela.

Children and Young People: Autism

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment he has made of the quality of educational provision for children and young people on the autism spectrum in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) London, (d) the London borough of Lambeth and (e) Streatham constituency.

Edward Timpson: The Department for Education recognises that provision for all children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) across England, including those on the autism spectrum, needs to be improved and that is why we are taking forward the reforms in the Children and Families Act, which recently received Royal Assent. Part 3 of the Act will bring about significant reforms to the SEN system from which children and young people with autism will benefit along with their peers, in particular from earlier, and more comprehensive, assessment and intervention and stronger arrangements for the transition from children's to adult services, which many on the spectrum can find extremely difficult.
	In 2008 the Autism Education Trust published a report “Educational provision for children and young people living in England”. That report found that
	“practice in many mainstream and special schools had improved tremendously over recent years”
	but that there was still much to be done
	“in reaching staff in schools who are not yet familiar with the particular needs of pupils on the autism spectrum and who struggle to teach them effectively”.
	The Government has continued to fund the trust, putting the emphasis on improving awareness and skills among early years, schools and further education staff. From January 2012 to February 2014, 22,451 staff have received level 1 basic awareness training, 3,214 have received level 2 hands-on tools and techniques training, and 775 have received level 3 training for those who want to develop their knowledge of autism further and those who will themselves take on a training role, such as school special educational needs co-ordinators.
	Education, including SEN, is a devolved matter and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have responsibility for autism educational provision in their administrations.

Schools

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the statement of 13 March 2014 by the Minister for Schools, how much of the funding announced will come from (a) his Department's budget and (b) the Treasury.

David Laws: The Government has agreed to provide £350 million in 2015-16 to the least fairly-funded local authorities in England. We are able to achieve this without any local authority receiving a cut to its per-pupil schools budget.
	We are able to deliver this boost by using money from within our protected schools budget and because HM Treasury will provide additional funding as required.
	The Department for Education intends to find the majority of the £350 million from within its existing protected schools budget as determined at the Spending Round in June 2013. Based on current forecasts, the Treasury will provide around £90 million in addition to the Department's contribution.
	The precise level of any additional funding from the Treasury will become clear when we have final data on pupil numbers.

Schools

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the statement by the Minister for Schools, of 13 March 2014, Official Report, columns 427-42, on school funding, whether any of the funding announced will generate a Barnett consequential.

David Laws: The Government has agreed to provide £350 million in 2015-16 to the least fairly-funded local authorities in England. We are able to achieve this without any local authority receiving a cut to its per-pupil schools budget.
	The Department for Education intends to find the majority of the £350 million from within its existing protected schools budget as determined at the Spending Round in June 2013, with additional money from the Treasury as required. Any funding provided by the Treasury will be agreed by the end of 2014 and will attract Barnett consequentials in the normal way.

Schools

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on opening up school facilities to the local community for use outside of the school day.

Elizabeth Truss: The out-of-hours term time and holiday child care that schools provide are vital to working parents. Many parents still find that the high cost and inflexibility of child care is a barrier to working, or increasing their working hours. The Government wants more schools to make their facilities available to the local community. The Department for Education believes that if schools open up their facilities, it can make them a valuable resource and can strengthen links with the wider community that they serve. The Department wants to encourage more schools to offer child care between 8am to 6pm during term time and during school holidays by removing all unnecessary red tape and increasing freedoms. For example, we are removing the need for schools to have to consult when introducing community facilities and to have regard to guidance from the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) or local authorities and we are clarifying the rules on charging for community facilities.

Schools: Collective Worship

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the number of schools in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire which carry out collective acts of Christian worship each day; what proportion those schools form of the total number of schools which are required to do so; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: All publicly funded maintained schools in England remain legally required to provide a daily act of worship for all registered pupils up to age 18 and the Government has no plans to change this. It does not, however, collect data on school provision in this area.

Barristers

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many incidents of barristers terminating their contractual involvement in cases there have been since the introduction of changes to very high cost case fees in December 2013.

Shailesh Vara: Very high cost cases represent a tiny number of criminal trials—less than 1% of the total Crown court cases in the last year were classified as VHCCs. On average 10,000 trials are listed to be heard in the Crown court each quarter. Despite their tiny number in comparison to wider Crown court trials, VHCCs are disproportionately expensive.
	41 barristers terminated very high cost case contracts following the change in rates announced in November 2013. This relates to seven cases.

Criminal Injuries Compensation

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average length of time taken is to determine an appeal of an initial award made by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

Shailesh Vara: The First-tier Tribunal—Criminal Injuries Compensation (CIC), administered by HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), hears appeals against decisions made by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority on claims tor compensation for criminal injuries.
	In the financial year 2012-13, the average length of time between an appeal being lodged with the tribunal to determination was 59.1 weeks1. CIC appeals frequently involve requests for further evidence, including medical evidence, and a number of cases are stayed while a lead case is determined. These issues, together with the age of the cases presented to the tribunal, have an inevitable effect on the average time taken. This Government is prioritising those cases that have been waiting the longest in order to ensure that they are resolved as quickly as possible.
	1 This is Management Information only and not subject to the same level of checks as Official Statistics.

Custodial Treatment

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of offenders who received a custodial sentence have previously served (a) no, (b) between one and four, (c) between five and nine and (d) more than 10 community sentences in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Jeremy Wright: The Government is committed to transforming the way that offenders are rehabilitated in the community, so that more offenders engage with court orders and post-release supervision and fewer reoffend. By drawing on the best of the public, voluntary and private sectors the Government wishes to see new, innovative approaches to tackling our current stubbornly high reoffending rates. From 11 December provisions in the Crime and Courts Act 2013 will require community orders to include a punitive element.
	In order to impose a custodial sentence the court must be satisfied that the offence(s) is/are so serious that neither a fine alone nor a community sentence can be justified, and in considering seriousness the court must treat recent and relevant convictions as an aggravating factor.
	The number of offenders who received a custodial sentence in 2012 and who had previously not been sentenced to a community order, or had received between one and four; between five and nine, or more than 10 community orders, is shown in the following table. Of those offenders sentenced to immediate custody in 2012, 72% had at least one previous custodial sentence.
	
		
			 Number1 of offenders sentenced to custody in 2012 by the number of previous community sentences received 
			 Number of previous community sentences Number 
			 No previous community sentences 24,971 
			 1-4 previous community sentences 42,385 
			 5-9 previous community sentences 26,699 
			 10 or more previous community sentences 10,320 
			 1 Figures are based on counting the number of occasions on which offenders have previously received a community sentence for any offences recorded on the Police National Computer, including some offences committed outside of England and Wales. Where there were multiple offences on the same occasion, only the primary offence as recorded on the Police National Computer would be counted. Source: Police National Computer, Ministry of Justice.

Employment and Support Allowance: Appeals

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to ensure that claimants required to present their appeals against the refusal of employment and support allowance on a Saturday have advocate support.

Shailesh Vara: The First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), administered by HM Courts and Tribunals Service, hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions' decisions on a range of benefits, including employment and support allowance. The tribunal is designed to hear appeals from individuals without the need, for support from advocates.
	The panel that hears the appeal, which will comprise experts such as judges, doctors, translators, and mental health experts, will guide the appellant through the appeal process. An appeal is inquisitorial rather than adversarial in nature. Appellants may engage advocates to help in preparing for or attending an appeal, but this is a matter entirely for the individual.
	Appellants are asked before their case is listed if there are any days of the week, from Monday to Saturday, when they would be unable to attend a hearing. If Saturday is not convenient they can say so. Hearings which are held on a Saturday proceed exactly as they would on a weekday.
	If an appellant has engaged an advocate but the advocate is not available to attend the scheduled hearing the matter will be put to a judge as to whether the hearing should be re-listed.

Empty Property

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the empty property business rates for the vacant properties recorded on the e-PIMS database owned by (a) his Department and (b) any Executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies of his Department in the current financial year.

Simon Hughes: Information on empty property business rates paid on vacant properties owned by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) or any Executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies of the MOJ is not held centrally.
	Empty properties are eligible for a temporary exemption from business rates for a period of six months for industrial properties and three months for other properties. Once this period has expired, empty business properties are liable for full business rates. There are permanent exemptions for empty properties with a rateable value of less than £2,600, listed buildings, charities and community and amateur sports clubs.
	The Government Property Unit has been supporting departments to rationalise the Government's estate by taking a cross Government view of property. Since 2010, over £1.25 billion has been raised by selling surplus freehold properties. Through leaving property across the central civil estate, we have also delivered cumulative, gross run rate savings of over £454 million per year. Where surplus property is awaiting disposal or lease end, the Government looks to explore all disposal options, including commercially sub-letting all or part of the space. Surplus property is listed on gov.uk
	Where surplus property is awaiting disposal or lease end but cannot yet be sold or sub-let commercially, the Space for Growth scheme, run by the Government Property Unit, invites small and medium-sized businesses, charities and social enterprises to utilise this space for free, boosting economic growth. Over 1,500 workstation spaces are now available in 57 different locations around England.

Maternity Leave

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of civil servants in his Department who were on maternity leave in each of the last five years returned to work.

Shailesh Vara: The Department does not hold a full set of administrative data regarding expected return to work dates from maternity leave and live administrative data for MOJ (excluding NOMS) sets only go back to May 2011.
	As a consequence estimates, based on the minimum (six months) and maximum (12 months) time permitted for a period of maternity leave have been made. These estimates show that between 96% and 97% of staff returned to work following a period of maternity leave which was due to end between 1 May 2011 and 31 December 2013.
	These percentages include staff who have left the MOJ but transferred to another government department but exclude staff on fixed term contracts whose contracts ended during their period of maternity leave.

Prisoners: Sexual Offences

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many sex offenders were held in each prison in England and Wales between 2010 and 2013.

Jeremy Wright: Since 2010, those who break the law are now more likely to go to prison, and they go to prison for longer. This Government is creating a tough justice system with severe penalties available for serious offenders. We have already introduced automatic life sentences for a second serious sexual or violent offence, and we have announced plans to end automatic early release for child rapists, terrorists and all dangerous offenders. A range of interventions is delivered or enabled by the National Offender Management Service to rehabilitate, and reduce the risk posed by, sex offenders.
	NOMS has created a sex offender management board to look at which prisons sex offenders should be held in, how sex offender treatment programmes can be best targeted and regimes for sex offenders who are not engaging in programmes.
	The following table gives the number of sentenced and recalled sex offenders held in each prison in England and Wales as at 30 June for each year from 2010 to 2013.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of sentenced and recalled sex offenders held in each prison in England and Wales at 30 June for year shown 
			  2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 Altcourse 80 62 69 67 
			 Askham Grange 0 1 0 0 
			 Ashfield 13 10 8 0 
			 Aylesbury 97 123 125 104 
			 Belmarsh 31 43 45 32 
			 Buckley Hall 6 7 5 4 
			 Blundeston 28 11 11 16 
			 Bedford 7 13 22 15 
			 Bristol 25 36 25 40 
			 Birmingham 111 97 132 119 
			 Bullingdon 149 157 149 149 
			 Bure 430 445 435 439 
			 Brinsford 19 15 18 24 
			 Bullwood Hall 0 0 1 0 
			 Brixton 16 31 91 191 
			 Bronzefield 8 11 8 7 
		
	
	
		
			 Chelmsford 19 21 29 29 
			 Cardiff 24 13 11 5 
			 Cookham Wood 1 2 4 5 
			 Coldingley 6 10 14 6 
			 Channings Wood 132 136 225 222 
			 Canterbury 3 6 2 0 
			 Dartmoor 121 121 175 233 
			 Dovegate 135 139 148 115 
			 Drake Hall 6 2 5 3 
			 Durham 40 50 53 56 
			 Doncaster 80 65 75 75 
			 Dorchester 11 11 9 13 
			 Deerbolt 19 20 19 19 
			 Downview 4 4 10 9 
			 Erlestoke 11 9 13 10 
			 Standford Hill (Sheppey cluster) 2 0 0 0 
			 East Sutton Park 0 0 1 2 
			 Everthorpe 12 8 12 20 
			 Eastwood Park 7 12 6 3 
			 Exeter 46 36 35 40 
			 Elmley (Sheppey cluster) 63 58 70 105 
			 Forest Bank 36 38 56 67 
			 Ford 3 1 0 2 
			 Foston Hall 7 9 9 9 
			 Frankland 235 244 246 209 
			 Feltham 6 14 4 10 
			 Full Sutton 195 197 194 194 
			 Featherstone 1 1 1 3 
			 Garth 8 4 2 2 
			 Gloucester 25 24 18 0 
			 Guys Marsh 12 9 6 5 
			 Grendon/Spring Hill 43 37 40 38 
			 Glen Parva 26 27 37 19 
			 Gartree 2 2 0 0 
			 Hollesley Bay 8 1 0 0 
			 Huntercombe 1 4 6 43 
			 Moorland / Hatfield 16 15 301 313 
			 Hewell1 44 51 69 66 
			 Holme House 77 95 105 133 
			 Hindley 17 6 10 4 
			 Hull 256 248 245 232 
			 High Down 23 42 73 129 
			 Highpoint (North and South) 14 28 34 34 
			 Haverigg 11 8 6 10 
			 Holloway 7 5 6 7 
			 Isis2 0 10 9 12 
			 Isle of Wight3 736 753 804 898 
			 Kirkham 0 1 0 2 
			 Kennet 7 0 1 0 
			 Lancaster 6 0 0 0 
			 Leicester 15 11 21 35 
			 Leeds 76 88 92 111 
			 Lancaster Farms 19 11 21 15 
			 Lowdham Grange 2 4 3 4 
			 Lindholme 26 22 25 17 
			 Lincoln 80 79 99 103 
			 Long Lartin 135 145 129 130 
			 Low Newton 9 7 10 7 
		
	
	
		
			 Liverpool 74 98 93 66 
			 Littlehey 504 530 544 533 
			 Lewes 22 31 37 44 
			 Leyhill 47 49 72 102 
			 Morton Hall IRC4 8 0 0 0 
			 Manchester 121 123 118 123 
			 Maidstone 368 410 439 263 
			 Mount 0 2 1 0 
			 Edmunds Hill 11 0 0 0 
			 New Hall 9 11 9 12 
			 Nottingham 53 87 76 77 
			 Northallerton 12 5 6 3 
			 North Sea Camp 35 49 89 106 
			 Northumberland5 406 422 376 379 
			 Norwich 26 41 74 74 
			 Onley 17 19 8 13 
			 Oakwood6 0 0 5 291 
			 Peterborough7 23 51 60 34 
			 Portland 11 15 17 14 
			 Preston 37 34 44 50 
			 Parc 107 269 306 236 
			 Kingston 13 10 8 0 
			 Pentonville 52 36 69 70 
			 Rochester 9 4 8 1 
			 Reading 7 14 7 7 
			 Rye Hill 149 147 142 140 
			 Ranby 42 52 45 25 
			 Risley 192 177 177 191 
			 Send 9 9 5 6 
			 Stafford 256 259 266 263 
			 Stoke Heath 24 6 4 6 
			 Stocken 18 19 27 24 
			 Swaleside (Sheppey cluster) 3 8 1 1 
			 Shepton Mallet 60 62 72 0 
			 Swinfen Hall 157 177 189 180 
			 Styal 7 5 6 7 
			 Sudbury 5 0 3 0 
			 Swansea 3 6 4 3 
			 Shrewsbury 172 213 174 0 
			 Thorn Cross 9 3 2 0 
			 Thameside 0 0 15 27 
			 Usk/Prescoed 195 206 207 240 
			 Verne 3 4 3 4 
			 Wellingborough 18 13 9 0 
			 Winchester 48 62 66 49 
			 Wakefield 421 437 442 445 
			 Wealstun 5 7 9 10 
			 Woodhill 43 51 62 43 
			 Warren Hill 12 9 13 4 
			 Wayland 21 22 16 19 
			 Wymott 530 509 489 501 
			 Werrington 2 2 2 2 
			 Wolds 3 0 2 5 
			 Whitemoor 17 19 15 16 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 23 16 14 16 
			 Whatton 677 728 710 714 
			 Wandsworth 242 263 49 46 
		
	
	
		
			 Wetherby 20 23 25 15 
			 Total 9,304 9,850 10,473 10,540 
			 1 HMP Hewell was created by an amalgamation of the three former prisons, Blakenhurst, Brockhill and Hewell Grange on 25 June 2008; as of 31 December 2011, the Brockhill site closed. 2 HMP & YOI Isis, which opened on 28 July 2010, is sited within the perimeter wall of HMP Belmarsh. 3 HMP Isle of Wight was created by an amalgamation of the three former prisons, Albany, Camp Hill and Parkhurst on 1 April 2009. 4 HMP Morton Hall closed (having previously been a female prison) and then re-opened as an Immigration Removal Centre, holding immigration detainees on behalf of UKBA. On 16 May, Morton Hall began operating as an Immigration Removal Centre. 5 HMP Northumberland is the new name for Acklington and Castington 6 HMP Oakwood opened in April 2012, and came into full operation by spring 2013 7 Peterborough is a dual purpose prison for men and women. Source: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Prisons: Vandalism

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how much was recovered from (a) convicted offenders and (b) prisoners on remand following damage caused by them to prison service property in the last full financial year for which figures are available;
	(2)  what the cost was of damage to prison service property caused by (a) convicted offenders and (b) prisoners on remand in the last full financial year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) introduced the system of recovering monies from prisoners for damage to prison property from 1 November 2013 following the implementation of Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 31/2013. Following a finding of guilt on adjudication, a requirement to pay compensation can be made for up to 100% of the damage caused, including labour costs. However the maximum must not exceed £2,000 and must never exceed the value of the damage caused.
	Figures for the full financial year 2013-14 are therefore not yet available.
	Monies recovered from prisoners as a result of damage to prisons or prison property are recorded centrally by NOMS in summary format and do not distinguish between convicted or remand prisoners.
	To obtain this information would require an examination of local records held at each establishment which could be done only at disproportionate cost.

Procurement

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate his Department has made of the full costs of the National Compliance and Enforcement Service and the value of its business; and when this estimate was made.

Shailesh Vara: The cost of the National Compliance and Enforcement Service for the financial year 2012-13 was £49 million.
	Costs are the direct staff, office and court costs relating to the enforcement of financial penalties imposed by the courts. Approved enforcement agents costs which are reimbursed by the offender, and central overhead costs are not included.
	The total value of debt estimated to be recoverable as at 31 March 2013, as published in the HM Courts and Tribunals Service Trust Statement 2012-13, was £320 million.

Sentencing: Foreign Nationals

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to ensure that the sentencing of foreign criminals in British courts is in accordance with the relevant sentencing guidelines.

Jeremy Wright: The Government is committed to ensuring that foreign nationals who commit offences in this country are subject to the criminal law and where appropriate are also subject to deportation action.
	Sentencing guidelines are produced independently of Government, by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales. The guidelines relate to the sentencing of offenders in England and Wales regardless of their nationality. Judges and magistrates have a statutory duty under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 to follow the sentencing guidelines unless it would not be in the interests of justice to do so. The Attorney-General also has a power to refer to the Court of Appeal certain cases where he considers that the sentence in an individual case is unduly lenient. This referral process also applies to sentences imposed on foreign national offenders.

Television: Licensing

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were fined for not holding a television licence in each local authority in North Wales in the last year for which figures are available.

Shailesh Vara: The number of defendants sentenced to a fine for TV licence evasion in the North Wales police force area, in England and Wales from 2009 to 2012 (latest data available) can be viewed in the table.
	Figures are provided by police force area and local justice area as the Ministry of Justice court proceedings database does not hold details of offences by local authority area.
	We want to keep the amount of court time and resource dedicated to dealing with these cases to a minimum. That is why the Government is already bringing forward legislation to ease the burdens on the courts, for example through using single magistrates for high volume, low level cases.
	Please note that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice in May 2014.
	
		
			 Defendants sentenced to a fine for TV licence evasion1, by North Wales police force area, England and Wales, 2009-122,3 
			 Force Local justice area 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 North Wales Wrexham Maelor LJA 1,189 1,085 936 955 
			  Denbighshire LJA 585 484 463 483 
			  Ynys Mon/Anglesey LJA 167 110 155 55 
			  Gwynedd LJA 226 164 86 177 
			  Miscellaneous court — 3 — — 
			  Total 2,167 1,846 1,640 1,670 
			 1 Offence included: Television Licence evasion—Licence required for TV receiver—Communications Act 2003, S.363. 2 The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.

Young Offenders

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many 18, 19 and 20 year olds are currently held in adult prisons.

Jeremy Wright: As at 31 December 2013 there were 5,915 young adults (18 to 20-year-olds) in the secure estate. The following table shows the number of young adults held other than YOIs designated solely for 18 to 20-year-olds. Most of these will be held in institutions that are designated as both HM prison and HM young offender institution (YOI).
	
		
			 Prisoners aged 18-20 held in the adult estate1, 31 December 2013, England and Wales 
			  18 19 20 All 
			 Total 565 881 1,170 2,616 
			 1 Some prisons are dual designated to hold both adult and young offenders. While adult and young offenders will be housed separately the data does not allow us to determine which part of the prison prisoners are held in. Therefore some young offenders included here will be held in wings specifically designed for young offenders rather than the adult part of the prison. Data Sources and Quality: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Youth Custody

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much local authorities contributed towards the cost of places in the youth secure estate in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: The Government believes that local areas and frontline practitioners should have greater discretion and ownership in tackling youth offending. Local authorities have since 1 April 2013 had greater financial responsibility for the cost of children detained securely on remand.
	Over the last four full financial years (2009-10 to 2012-13), the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales met the cost of detaining under-18s on remand in young offender institutions, while local authorities met one third of the cost of detaining children on remand in secure children's homes and secure training centres.
	As invoices in relation to places in secure children's homes were paid by the local authority designated by the court directly to secure children's homes, the local authorities' contribution to the cost of this sector is not held centrally and would be available only at disproportionate cost.
	The Youth Justice Board's income from local authorities in respect of children detained on remand in secure training centres over the last four full financial years is set out:
	on page 49 of it’s “Annual Report and Accounts 2009/10”
	http://www.google.co.uk/url?q=http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/yjb/2010/YJB-Annual-Report-and-Accounts-2009-10.pdf&sa=U&ei=glgQU5OIDcy3hAffmYD4D A&ved=0CCcQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNEPmBhAGX3GNSE VnRJDRVVJfaD_Eg
	on page 52 of its “Annual Report and Accounts 2010/11”
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/yjb/yjb-annual-report-2010-11.pdf?type=Finjan-Download&slot=00000077&id=00000476&location=0A64020C
	on page 64 of its “Annual Report and Accounts 2011/12”
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/corporate-reports/yjb/yjb-annual-report-2011-12.pdf
	on page 64 of it’s “Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13”
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/corporate-reports/yjb/yjb-annual-report-2013.pdf
	The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales meets the cost of detaining under-18s in the youth secure estate who are serving custodial sentences.

Ambulance Services: South West

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect on the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust of delayed hand-overs exceeding 15 minutes of patients from ambulances to accident and emergency departments.

Jane Ellison: This information is not held centrally.
	However, we understand that in the six months to 28 February 2014, data provided by commissioners shows there were 43,615 handovers that exceeded 15 minutes in the area served by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT).
	SWASFT provides ambulance services to 18 acute trusts in the South West. Its services are commissioned by South Devon and Torbay Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) as the lead commissioner for ambulance services across the South West, and handover delays are reported to CCGs on a monthly basis.
	Commissioners, SWASFT and the acute trusts all play a role in the management and reduction of delayed handovers. The lead commissioner regularly meets with SWASFT to ensure delivery of quality standards both in relation to performance against national response times and patient outcome.
	Additionally, SWASFT regularly meets directly with acute trusts to produce action plans to improve handover delay performance, and has worked with all acute trusts within their geographical area to ensure that the escalation procedure within each acute trust links in to their own.

Autism

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to improve health outcomes for people on the autistic spectrum.

Norman Lamb: The Government is working with our delivery partners in the health and social care system to bring about improvement to the health outcomes of people on the autistic spectrum. We know, as a result of the work we are undertaking on the Review of the Autism Strategy that there are examples of good practice around the country, but are aware that there is still work to be done.
	In order to help improve the care and management of autism and to enable health and social care services to support people with autism more effectively, the Department commissioned the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to produce guidance on autism. This includes a recent Quality Standard for Autism which can help to inform the commissioning of autism services for children, young people and adults, focusing on the key areas for improving the quality of existing services.
	At national level, the key enablers have been put in place. These include publication of statutory guidance for health and local authority bodies, commissioning of guidance and support materials from expert bodies, and publication of NICE guidance. The strategy and statutory guidance both promote Joint Strategic Needs Assessments as the vehicle for health and social care services to properly plan for the needs of people with autism in their area; action to be expressed through joint commissioning strategies and better local co-ordination of services.
	The Government is committed to achieving the vision, set out in the Strategy, of local communities that not only accept and understand autism but provide real opportunities for adults with autism to live fulfilling and rewarding lives.
	The updated Adult Autism Strategy will be published shortly.

Cancer

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the efficacy and quality of care of patients with cancer in (a) Harlow constituency, (b) Essex, (c) the East of England and (d) England; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: Results of the 2013 Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) were published by NHS England in a national report on 30 August 2013. The survey report reflects the responses of over 68,000 patients and provides an invaluable insight into cancer patients' experience of care, treatment and support.
	For England as a whole, the survey results showed that cancer patients’ experience of care is improving, with 88% of patients reporting their care was either excellent or very good. Patients reported improved scores on 31 of 63 questions from the previous year—and this follows very significant improvement in scores in the 2012 survey over those achieved in 2010. It is clear that specialist cancer teams have been using the cancer patient experience survey to inform their quality planning activities, and that this work has borne fruit in many national health service trusts across England.
	Trusts in and around London were some of the poorest performers in the 2010 survey, but some of them have improved significantly since then.
	Princess Alexandra Harlow is ranked 131st of 155 trusts providing adult cancer care. Though it is clear there is much room for improvement, it should be noted that it has improved its position since 2010 and is moving in the right direction. It improved its scores from the previous year on a statistically significant basis on five questions in the 2013 survey and did not decline on any.
	In Essex and East Anglia more widely, the CPES identified a pattern of improvement. Trusts that improved significantly between 2012 and 2013 in the area are:
	Basildon/Thurrock (up on nine survey questions, down on 0);
	East and North Herts (up on six, down on 0);
	Southend (up on five, down on 0);
	Ipswich (up on five, down on 0); and
	Princess Alexandria Harlow (up on five, down on 0).
	The only trusts in East Anglia that showed declining scores overall were:
	Kings Lynn (down on three, up on one);
	Mid Essex (down on three); and
	Papworth (down on two).
	However, Papworth was still ranked in the top 10 of all trusts in 2013.
	To drive improvement in cancer patient experience, NHS England is working with high performing trusts in the CPES to identify best practice that can be shared and developed into toolkits and working with trusts with poorer scores to review how they use insights gained from the survey to develop service improvement plans.

Food: Testing

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding (a) local authorities and (b) the Food Standards Agency had to carry out food sampling analyses in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: Sampling and surveillance are a priority for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and play a key role of the framework of regulatory controls to ensure that food is safe for consumers and complies with United Kingdom and European Union law.
	Over the last five years the FSA has made additional funding available for local authorities to carry out food sampling as part of an annual National Coordinated Sampling Programme (see the following table). This funding is over and above the funding allocated by local authorities themselves for analysis. This covers a wide range of issues including microbiological and chemical contaminants, misdescription and adulteration.
	
		
			  Amount (£) 
			 2009-10 900,000 
			 2010-11 900,000 
			 2011-12 1.6 million 
			 2012-13 1.6 million 
			 2013-14 2.2 million 
		
	
	The FSA has commissioned regular surveys of foods over the last five years to alert the FSA to potential food safety issues. These surveys can be found on the FSA website. The FSA also carries out a broad range of food sampling through its field officers, details of which are set out in the UK Multi Annual National Control Plan. The costs of these areas of sampling are not individually available, although specific sampling carried out on phenylbutazone in horse livers, following the horsemeat incidents, has cost the FSA £1,033,000 from January 2013 (when 100% testing started) to February 2014.
	The FSA also received from the EU Commission a total of £48,500 in 2013 to cover the cost of the UK sample analysis as part EU-wide survey sampling of a range of beef products for horse DNA and phenylbutazone.
	Local authorities receive funding through the Revenue Support Grant which they will use according to local priorities, including food sampling. Decisions on how to spend Revenue Support Grant funds are taken by individual local authorities. The FSA does not hold data on the financial allocation of funds for analysis by local authorities, only the volume and nature of the tests undertaken. Public Health England also provides an allocation to local authorities that funds the analysis of food safety (microbiological) testing.

Hospitals: Infectious Diseases

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will include e-coli and other gram negative infections in the health care associated infections targets.

Daniel Poulter: While E. coli and other Gram-negative infections are a significant concern it is too early to comment on this proposal as we are awaiting expert advice on how to broaden our approach to indicators for health care associated infections. We expect to develop plans for implementation of the expert advice later this year.

Hospitals: Infectious Diseases

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital bed days were attributable to the effects of (a) all healthcare acquired infections, (b) MRSA and C.diff and (c) Carbapenem resistant organisms in each of the last five years.

Daniel Poulter: While Public Health England (PHE) does not measure the number of bed days attributable to the effects of each infection, as part of its mandatory surveillance programme, it does provide rates calculated per 100,000 bed days for specific infections.
	The data summarised in Table 1 and Table 2, taken from surveillance programmes, represent Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia and Clostridium difficile infection (C difficile) counts and rates (per 100,000 bed days) for Trust apportioned cases over the past five financial years (2008-09 to 2012-13) in England.
	In relation to carbapenem resistance, although positive samples are referred to the PHE Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections (AMRHAI) Reference Unit on a voluntary basis for confirmation, PHE does not undertake mandatory surveillance of these organisms.
	The data summarised in Table 3 represents the number of samples confirmed as producing the enzyme 'carbapenemase' by the PHE AMRHAI Reference Unit over five calendar years to most recent publication (2008 to 2011). Carbapenemases are enzymes that destroy carbapenem antibiotics, resulting in resistance.
	Other than those discussed data on all healthcare-associated infections and the number of hospital bed days attributable to effects of healthcare-associated infections are not routinely collected by PHE.
	
		
			 Table 1: C difficile infection reports for patients aged 2 years and over: Trust apportioned cases and rates 
			 As at April to March Trust Apportioned1 C difficile reports C difficile rate per 100,000 bed-days 
			 2008-09 19,927 52.9 
			 2009-10 13,220 35.3 
			 2010-11 10,417 29.7 
			 2011-12 7,689 22.2 
			 2012-13 5,974 17.3 
			 1 Relates to the number of positive samples received by AMRHAI for confirmation, NOT unique patient samples. Data are available at: www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1233906819629 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: MRSA bacteraemia: Trust apportioned cases and rates 
			 As at April to March Trust apportioned1 MRSA bacteraemia reports MRSA bacteraemia rate per 100,000 bed days 
			 2008-09 1,606 4.3 
			 2009-10 1,004 2.7 
			 2010-11 688 2.0 
			 2011-12 473 1.4 
			 2012-13 398 1.2 
			 1 Relates to the number of positive samples received by AMRHAI for confirmation, NOT unique patient samples. Data are available at: www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733750761 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Numbers of isolates1 of Enterobacteriaceae from UK laboratories confirmed by AMRHAI to have carbapenemases 
			  Numbers of isolates 
			 2008 22 
			 2009 73 
			 2010 339 
		
	
	
		
			 2011 632 
			 1 Relates to the number of positive samples received by AMRHAI for confirmation, NOT unique patient samples. 2 Data for 2011 are incomplete—these data reflect carbapenemase-producers confirmed up until March 2011. Full year data for 2011, 2012 and 2013 data are currently unpublished. Data is available at: www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/InfectiousDiseases/InfectionsAZ/CarbapenemResistance/EpidemiologicalData/

Medical Records: Databases

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to ensure that patient data does not leave GP surgeries under care.data.

Daniel Poulter: On 18 February, NHS England announced that they will collect data from general practitioner (GP) surgeries in the autumn instead of April, to allow more time to build public awareness of the benefits of using the information, what safeguards are in place, how people can opt out if they choose, and look into further measures that could be taken to build public confidence.
	When a patient registers an objection to stop information about them leaving their GP practice for purposes beyond their direct care, a code will be applied to their medical record. This code or note will prevent the patient's confidential information from being used other than in exceptional circumstances required by law, such as a public health emergency.
	After listening to key stakeholders and discussions in Parliament, the Government has put in place a number of measures to help provide assurance to the public concerning the care.data programme. This includes a new measure to provide under statute for a requirement that a patient's opt out must be respected. This means that if a patient objects, then no identifiable data about them will flow to the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Sunbeds

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will bring forward legislative proposals to (a) require the supervision of sunbed use, (b) require the provision and display of prescribed health information on sunbed use, (c) prohibit the provision or display of all other health information on sunbed use and (d) require the provision and use of goggles in sunbed businesses in England;
	(2)  what his policy is on permitting all local authorities to license sunbed businesses;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the number of (a) licensed and (b) non-licensed sunbed businesses in England in each of the last five years;
	(4)  what steps his Department is taking to prevent children from using unsupervised sunbeds in England; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The licensing arrangements of sunbeds are a matter for local authorities. The Department is reviewing the regulation of sunbed use and is currently awaiting the outcome of a consultation by the All Parliamentary Group on Skin.

Arts: Training

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department has allocated to support training and skills development for the creative industries in (a) London and (b) Greater Manchester in each year since 2010.

Matthew Hancock: Following reforms that have given college and skills providers the flexibility to respond to local skill needs, the Government does not allocate training funds to particular skill types. The funding for training and skills development for the creative industries taken from the Adult Skills Budget for the past two academic years for London, Greater Manchester and England is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 £ million 
			  2011/12 AY 2012/13 AY 
			 London 22.4 21.9 
			 Greater Manchester 4.2 4.4 
			 England total 91.2 89.6 
			 Notes: 1. Creative industries is defined as the arts, media and publishing sector subject area. 2. Spend is estimated based on data taken from the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). 3. Comparable funding data is not available for years prior to 2011/12.

Football: Insolvency

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will bring forward legislative proposals to abolish the Football League creditors' rule; and if he will make a statement.

Jennifer Willott: The Government has no plans to legislate specifically on the insolvency of football clubs.

Social Mobility and Pay

Michael Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to (a) increase social mobility and (b) prevent unpaid internships; and what sanctions are in place for employers who breach minimum wage legislation.

David Willetts: This Department plays an important role in delivering the Government's Social Mobility Strategy, through our policies on vocational and higher education and the labour market, and through our work with businesses.
	We are implementing the Inspiration Vision, which sets out how employers, schools and colleges will work together to inspire young people about work, and bringing these interests together with the National Careers Service.
	We are raising the status of the further education profession, including introducing Chartered Status for high-performing colleges.
	We are reforming apprenticeships to make them more rigorous and responsive to employers, which will ensure each apprenticeship has value to individuals as they progress in their career. The changes we have made to higher apprenticeships provide a clear work-based progression pathway into higher education and professional careers.
	We are delivering the Traineeships programme, which is aimed at giving young people the skills and experience they need to be able to compete for apprenticeships and other jobs.
	Further education and skills also provide second chances to educationally disadvantaged adults, allowing them to improve their employment and earnings prospects through their life course; and improve their capacity and capability to improve the educational outcomes of their children.
	The Chancellor's autumn statement of 5 December 2013, Official Report, columns 1101-1113, announced that for 2014/15 we will make an additional 30,000 places available at publicly funded higher education institutions, and remove student number controls from 2015/16.
	We have established a new framework with increased responsibility placed on universities to widen access. As part of this the independent Office for Fair Access (OFFA) agreed 162 Access Agreements for 2014/15, with plans for universities to spend more than £680 million on outreach and other activities to widen access, rising to over £700 million by 2017/18.
	We asked the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) and OFFA to develop a shared strategy for promoting access which maximises the impact of all the spending by Government, HEFCE and institutions. An interim report was published in March 2013, and we intend to publish the full report shortly.
	The Social Mobility Business Compact ensures young people have fair and open access to employment opportunities. It commits its signatories to support communities and schools, provide opportunities for all, and recruit openly and fairly.
	The Department funds the Graduate Talent Pool, which provides information and advice on all aspects of internships, and includes a quality assurance process for vacancies. It has encouraged employers to offer graduate internships, and of ensuring that those internship vacancies are available to the widest possible audience of new graduates.
	The Government is committed to making sure that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it. People who feel they have not been paid what they are entitled to should call the free and confidential Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368.
	The Government is taking a tougher approach to NMW enforcement across the board.
	On 28 February 2014 the Government named the first five employers under the revised Naming and Shaming scheme. Between them they owe workers a total of over £6,800 in arrears and have been charged financial penalties totalling £3,381.40.
	The Government has also increased the financial penalty percentage that employers pay for breaking minimum wage law from 50% to 100% of the unpaid wages owed to workers and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000.
	On interns, the Government has been raising awareness among young people of interns' rights and responsibilities to the National Minimum Wage, directing them to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline for further information and to make a complaint. HM Revenue and Customs investigate every complaint made to the Pay and Work Rights helpline and calls from interns are prioritised for consideration. Youth-focused channels such as 4Talent and Facebook have been used to target young people interested in entering sectors where internships are prevalent. To date, over 130,000 young people have been reached this way.
	Intern-focused enforcement action resulted in a major fashion chain being ordered to pay 90 unpaid interns almost £60,000 in 2012/13.
	In November last year, HMRC sent out education letters to 200 employers known to have recently advertised intern opportunities and unpaid work. The 200 letters will be followed up with a programme of targeted, risk-based investigations.